PRESENTER: Presenter
Jeff Jewell, Economic and Community Development Director
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SUBJECT: Title
Approval of the second and final reading of an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances, Chapter 126, Sec. 126-355, related to the downtown parking zone by establishing paid parking areas, fees, and the days and times of enforcement, and repealing Secs. 126-382 to 126-395 related to parking meters and pay stations.
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DEPARTMENT: Economic and Community Development
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COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: 1, 3, 5
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
City Council approved the first reading of this ordinance amendment on May 12, 2025.
Since 2022, city staff has undertaken planning and due diligence efforts to develop strategies and recommendations for parking in the downtown area. Downtown continues to be a top priority for stakeholders, including the New Braunfels Downtown Board. In 2023, a downtown parking management study was completed by Walker Consultants, along with a parking garage feasibility study. Walker recommended a series of strategies to operate an improved parking enforcement effort for the downtown area to delay the construction of a costly parking garage. The study recommended technological, administrative, and policy changes that would result in an improved end-user experience and more efficient enforcement efforts to better manage downtown parking inventories.
The Downtown Board formed a parking committee of downtown business owners and leaders who evaluated the parking and garage studies, along with a recent downtown business survey. The survey indicated that businesses felt it was time for a change; they valued space turnover for new customers near their business; there is a desire for a mix of free and paid parking options with a fee for the most convenient spaces; that staff need a reliable place to park; and that they support paid parking if it was reinvested into downtown.
The parking committee considered increased visitation and retail changes with associated business hours since the two-hour parking ordinance was implemented in 2009. They also expressed a desire to expand options for people to stay longer or less than 2 hours, noting that short term parking can remain free, with longer term parking also available for free but with less convenience. Other considerations included privately owned parking lots charging a fee for parking, putting additional pressure on the most convenient and free on-street parking, and a desire to shift parking costs onto those that use it. Charging a fee for the most convenient parking spaces in downtown is also believed to support downtown vibrancy by reinvesting parking revenues into streetscape improvements, safety, and amenities, as well as helping to fund long term parking solutions such as a parking garage.
The parking committee presented its recommendations to the Downtown Board which were approved unanimously. The committee’s recommendations were also approved by the Downtown Association’s board. The proposed changes include paid parking in the two-hour ordinance areas on every day of the week, from 10:00am to 10:00pm with the first hour free and $2.00 per hour after. The maximum daily rate is proposed to be $10.00. Approximately twenty-three spaces not currently included in the two-hour ordinance area are proposed to be included as part of the managed parking program. Specifically, these spaces have been excluded from the two-hour ordinance at Comal County’s request, but staff is recommending these spaces (23) be included in the managed parking system. Proposed for inclusion in the paid parking system are four (4) spaces along E. San Antonio between Main Plaza and the Comal County Court’s driveway, eleven (11) in the northeast quadrant of Main Plaza directly in front of the Courthouse and eight (8) spaces along Seguin Avenue directly adjacent to the Comal County Courthouse and Annex Building.
A cross-department city team has worked and met regularly since that time to study and implement recommendations and potential efficiencies from the 2023 parking study. A contract with Interstate Parking was approved in February 2025 to manage the parking program, including parking ambassadors for enforcement, leveraging technology to create a user-friendly resident river parking pass program, collect parking fees, and implement additional strategies learned because of data collection and behavior changes. A fully integrated managed parking program has been shown in other cities to improve access, reduce congestion, support local businesses, and delay costly parking garages.
The city has worked to create new free parking spaces, particularly for downtown employees. The city currently has agreements in place for two downtown employee parking lots and are working to expand the permit program to other privately owned off-street parking lots. These agreements have been funded by the TIRZ #3. Staff has also worked on agreements with downtown partners to make additional parking lots available to the public after 5pm and on weekends. Parking signage has also been added to direct visitors to free parking areas, with plans to increase.
On April 14, 2025, council approved changes to the administration and collection of unpaid parking violations. The move to a civil citation process, also recommended by the 2023 parking study, will allow Municipal Court to reallocate its efforts on other municipal offenses, improve customer experience through its proportionate and simplified resolution process, and enable the use of a third-party contractor to act as the City’s parking enforcement agent.
This city team has also identified ordinances affected by the parking committee’s proposed changes, as well as those that are outdated, particularly those for parking meters and pay stations that no longer exist. Ordinances were also found to have redundancies, specifically to the recently approved ordinance changes for civil administration and collection of unpaid parking violations. Ordinance Changes because of recently approved ordinances, those in support of the committee’s recommendations, and those found to be outdated are included in this item.
The ordinance changes include:
• Paid parking areas include those shown in the map below, indicated by orange lines.
• Paid parking will be enforced every day of the week, from 10:00am to 10:00pm.
• Parking will be free for the first hour, then $2.00 per hour for every hour after, with a maximum daily rate of $10.00.
The changes also include vehicle registration as a requirement upon parking in the proposed Downtown Parking Zone. Customers not able or willing to register their vehicle upon parking in a designated managed space are free to park in one of the publicly available lots that do not require registration or payment.
The ordinance changes also include:
• Remove references to parking meters and pay stations.
• Remove references to unpaid parking penalties that appear in other ordinances.
Prior presentations to Council related to downtown parking have occurred on March 18, 2024, February 17, 2025, February 24, 2025, and March 24, 2025. These include reviews of proposed changes and approval of a contract with Interstate Parking for parking management and enforcement. Unpaid parking violations were decriminalized by city council at its meeting on April 14, 2025.
The city has hosted several meetings with downtown businesses and stakeholder groups, held two open forum public meetings, and launched information on the city’s website and social media to help the public understand the proposed changes. The city, in coordination with Interstate Parking, will continue efforts to educate and engage with downtown visitors, businesses, and employees. Paid parking in downtown is expected to begin July 7, 2025 with approval of these ordinance changes.
Ordinances in Sections 126 382 - 395 are requested to be repealed as these ordinances are specific to parking meters and stations that no longer exist. The city has seen these devices to be inefficient and costly to maintain. Instead, the city plans to leverage current technology for parking registration and payment processing.
ISSUE:
The current time-limited downtown parking ordinance does not match current visitation demand periods, include consumer choices, or result in the desired customer turnover needed to create new customers for downtown businesses. These ordinance changes reflect a larger managed parking system which organizes, prices, and regulates parking in the highest demand areas. Charging a fee for on-street parking in the proposed areas is an equitable way to shift the cost of enforcement onto the actual users of the parking system and generate revenue to pursue other parking solutions in high demand districts such as downtown New Braunfels.
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
☒Economic Mobility ☒Enhanced Connectivity ☐Community Identity
☐Organizational Excellence ☐Community Well-Being ☐N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
The fiscal impact is unknown. It is expected that downtown parking fees will generate revenue in excess of the annual operating costs of the third-party parking management company, however behavior changes are unknown including number of parking turnovers each day and compliance, as well as the cost of potential new private parking lot agreements staff and the public. All revenues generated from downtown paid parking will be transferred into the Parking Revenue Fund for future improvements.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of the second and final reading of this ordinance amendment to Chapter 126 Section 355 - Downtown Parking Zone and Sections 382 through 395 - Metered and Pay Station Parking by establishing paid parking areas, fees, identifying the days and times that paid parking will be enforced, and removing references to parking meters and pay stations.