Facts About the Parking in Ellicott City

Howard County Planning and Zoning Director of Special Projects Steve Lafferty sent this email to stakeholders regarding the new parking projects coming to the Historic District:

This message is going to you because of the extensive amount of misinformation and misrepresentations that have been distributed about the parking program proposed for downtown Ellicott City.

These are the facts regarding the parking and the contracts:  

• All of the free parking spaces in the parking lots will remain free.

• The hours of enforcement are not changing – it is, and will  continue to be, 10am to 6pm daily.

• The meter fees on lots D and E will increase by $.25. The new hourly rate will be $.50, making the cost  to park ALL day on those lots $4.00.

• The meter fees on lots B and C will remain at $.50. There is no increase, so the cost to park ALL day on those lots will still be $4.00.

• On-street parking will cost $1 per hour. If you need less than an hour, you can put in coins for that amount of time.

• Meter fee increases (Lots D & E and on the street) will NOT go into effect until after  January 1.

• The time limit on Main Street and Maryland Avenue will remain two hours.

• There will be a 15 minute grace period for parking on Main Street and Maryland Avenue to allow for quick in and out trips. The grace period is only for those who are parking for 15 minutes or less. The meter must be fed by those who are staying longer.

• The loading zones will remain the same.

• Central parking will continue to provide parking enforcement.

• Parking spaces are being marked on Maryland Avenue and Main Street; this is a change from the current layout where individual spaces are not marked on Main Street.

• The Streetline parking app will guide people to vacant parking, whether paid or free spaces, and functions like a GPS.

• No decisions have been made about how to address residential parking. Providing residential parking permits is being discussed and will be discussed with residents later this month.

• The procurement process for Streetline followed all of the purchasing requirements, including public notice on the County web site, through the State of Maryland and a bidder list of over 6,000 as well as direct email to likely potential bidders.

• Two bids were received; however, one was received late and was untimely. Neither was from Maryland.

• The purchase of Duncan meters has been described as costing $250,000 and as $170,000; they cost a little less than $125,000 and will replace meters that are used in the lots.

Thank you.