Sarasota’s controversial decision to expand paid parking hours, which only went into effect June 29, may soon be modified for the second time, after city business leaders took their concerns to the Sarasota City Commission on July 6.
Ronnie Shugar and Chris Voelker — both of whom serve on the city’s Downtown Improvement District Advisory Board — told city commissioners during public comment that the decision to expand paid street parking to 8 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to midnight on Sundays is driving customers elsewhere.
Under the old schedule, street parking in downtown Sarasota’s Judicial District — defined by the city as Main Street and Ringling Boulevard east of U.S. 301 — was enforced from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. All other on-street downtown parking was enforced from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The new parking schedule was approved May 4. Sunday parking hours were shortened at the May 18 meeting, following an outcry from downtown Sarasota churches about the potential impact on parishioners.
For the period of June 29 through July 12, the city of Sarasota has written parking citations representing $96,985 in fines both in downtown Sarasota and on St. Armands Key, according to Broxton Harvey, Sarasota’s parking division manager. That’s an increase of $14,332.50 versus the June 15 through June 28, when $82,652.50 worth of citations were written.
Paid parking spaces on St. Armands Key generated $60,782.55 from June 29 to July 12 versus $51,321.78 for June 14 to 28, representing an increase of $9,460.77 in revenues.
Figures were not available for downtown paid parking. In addition to the parking lots and garages, downtown paid parking spaces are primarily on Main Street and Palm Avenue.
East of U.S. 301 paid parking spaces are located on Ringling Boulevard.
What are the merchants saying?
“People are choosing to go elsewhere; they are cutting their visits short, they are meeting friends, shopping, and spending their days in places where parking is easier and free,” said Shugar, best known for his Sugar Champagne Bar. “If the goal is turnover or tax revenues, the city can establish reasonable time limits and enforce them.”
Shugar stressed that he has heard from tenants and customers about the economic pinch.
He noted that someone who wants to stop at any downtown coffee shop for coffee and a Danish is paying $2 in parking fees just to step inside.
“There are literally less than 10% of retailers open during those hours,” Shugar said in reference to the extension of paid parking both in the morning and from 8 p.m. to midnight. “The streets are empty, so why does the city need to incur overhead, payroll or meter maid for those hours.
“To those of us who have invested in downtown, paid parking feels like a personal attack on our businesses and on the people whose livelihood depends on them,” he later added. “We pay property taxes, we employ people, we attract visitors.
“We take risks; we help create the downtown area that the city promotes; we are being punished for it.”
Chris Voelker, proprietor of State Street Eating House and a partner in the ownership of Beso, which opened in June at 30 S. Lemon Ave., urged the commissioners to take Shugar’s concerns to heart.
She noted that when Broxton Harvey, the city’s parking division manager, explained that the additional revenue was needed in part to offset hurricane losses, her first thought was how business owners responded.
Voelker said she looked first at how to reduce expenses without reducing the quality of their product and later added that business owners can’t simply raise prices.
“It’s a good time to do some introspection, particularly with the parking division,” Voelker said.
Rachel Burns, executive director of the St. Armands Circle Association, told the Herald-Tribune that member businesses have not raised concerns about the change in parking but “I have heard more complaints from guests and that’s usually indicative that it’s been noticed and it’s going to have an impact.”
Why did Sarasota change its parking fee structure?
Sarasota’s parking division is an enterprise fund, which means it should be able to fund itself without tapping city reserves.
A combination of lost revenues and an increase in maintenance costs partly attributed to the impact of the 2024 hurricane season and street flooding — especially on St. Armands Key — means that for the 2026 fiscal year, the parking department is projected to lose $270,784.
That’s based on projected revenues of $6.29 million versus $6.56 million in expenditures.
Based on city projections, the increases would allow the parking enterprise fund to operate in the black, even while paying for significant capital improvements over the next five years, such as replacement of elevators, installation of license plate readers, and new vehicles.
In the 2027 fiscal year, the anticipated combined parking revenues are almost $9.8 million compared with expenditures of $8.8 million.
Sunday parking fees were projected to raise about $1 million a year though in May Harvey told the city commission that rolling back the Sunday paid parking hours to a 1 p.m. start would reduce anticipated revenues by about $300,000 a year and push back the timeline for capital improvement projects such as elevator replacement.
What will the city of Sarasota do next?
Though no formal action was taken, all commissioners expressed an interest in having parking division staff offer options to modify the current fee structure that the board could then discuss during a public workshop.
Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Kotch suggested a holistic review of the parking division, which has operated at a deficit and not functioned as an enterprise fund.
Vice Mayor Liz Alpert said that when the board does revisit paid parking, it may want to consider rolling back the paid parking hours prior to the May 4 vote and increase parking rates.
“It’s got to be one or the other,” she said then added that the expanded hours were an attempt to not raise rates.
Parking fees are primarily collected for spaces on Main Street, Palm Avenue and a portion of Ringling Boulevard; she also said the city needed to do a better job of offering directional signs to free parking elsewhere downtown.
Mayor Debbie Trice noted that currently there is a sign with a blue “P” for paid parking and she suggested that a green “P” could be added for free spaces.
Alpert noted that premium street parking spaces would always be paid spaces.
“Number one, parking is not free,” she said. “Somebody has to bear the cost so it’s either the residents of the city or the people who use the parking spaces.”
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota commissioners to revisit controversial paid parking
Reporting by Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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By Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune | USA TODAY Network
