Regulars of downtown Fort Myers may know about the one hour of free parking in parking garages.
But now the city is changing gears.
The city council approved an increase from one free hour to two.
Fort Myers Public Information Officer Noelle Casagrande says this is in an effort to "encourage visitors to dine, shop, and enjoy downtown businesses and attractions without the added expense of parking for shorter visits."
Cheryl Schaaf, owner of Spirit of Earth along First Street, said this change bodes well for not only those who want to spend some time in the downtown City of Palms area, but also for businesses.
“A lot of people, when they come down here, they want more than an hour," Schaaf said. "An hour is get your mail and get out. Two hours is the shopping trip, and a whole experience down here is about a three-to-four-hour cruise.”
Amber Flint, sole owner and employee of Olde Florida Mercantile on Jackson Street, recently opened this location on Friday, June 19.
She said this change comes at the perfect time — following her grand opening.
"I think it's a great change," Flint said. "It'll give everybody the opportunity to come down here for a couple of hours, see if they actually want to stay and explore, and if they do, they can pay the difference in the next few hours."
Under this pilot program, after the first two free hours, the third hour is $3 with each additional hour costing $1, capped at a $10 maximum. After 5 p.m., however, it’s a flat rate of $5 to park in a garage.
Robert Waters, general manager of DHOP, Downtown House of Pizza, said it’s a good idea.
“It’s enough time to come downtown, enjoy, and actually do something where before an hour there it was borderline to be able to go to a restaurant, sit down, eat," Waters said.
But he points out an issue.
“Currently, there is nothing describing the time on when they should pay, so you’ll see people who show up at 5 o’clock in the afternoon when its free parking, and because there’s nothing on the street that says 5 o’clock free parking, they pay for their parking spot, and you could watch that all night long," Waters said.
Downtown Fort Myers offers free on-street parking all weekend and free after 5 p.m. on-street weekday parking, according to their website.
“People come up and think that they have to pay for and don’t understand the zip zone of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., so they need to do something in that aspect," Waters said.
He suggests signage as he said that currently, there is one sign per block and if you park at the end or the front, you don’t see it.
“People are getting tickets for, you know what I feel like, are no reason, and they don’t really know, especially if you’re not from the area," Waters said.
He said it's even gone as far as impacting the business' reviews and that this has been occurring for years.
“We’ve gotten reviews for it," Waters said. "If you were looking at our reviews over the last few years, there’s a lot of them in the background where it’s like, oh, I got a ticket, I got a ticket, I got a ticket, you know, its out of our hands."
Downtown Fort Myers has three parking garages, all of which are impacted by the rate change: City of Palms Garage, Main Street Garage, and the Luminary Hotel Garage.
The rates will remain in effect through Oct. 31.
The city will examine the program’s efficacy during the pilot period and consider future parking strategies based on use and community feedback.
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