Ventura—The City Council on Tuesday, August 18, decided to keep working on an ordinance amending sections 16.210.070 and 16.215.030 of the municipal code to change time limits in City-owned parking lots, allow paid parking in City-owned parking lots, and establish a new downtown parking permit program.
THE long and complicated discussion asked pointed questions from assorted Council Members who wanted the action to go to the Parking Advisory Committee for an opinion before returning to the City Council.
Public Works Director Charlie Ebeling introduced Principal Transportation Engineer Jeff Hereford, who said the City has made changes to its downtown parking meters.
“We have replaced the older pay-by-space meters with the pay-by-plate technology,” he said.
“Users now enter their license plate number rather than a parking space number into the new meters,” he said. “With the new meters, we also implemented the 90-minute free parking program, where customers who park for 90 minutes or less receive that time at no cost.”
If they stay longer than 90 minutes, he said they pay for their entire stay, including the first 90 minutes.
“Before the Council tonight is a series of municipal code changes and updates, and the staff is proposing these…
