CUMBERLAND — For the second month in a row, the mayor and City Council tabled a decision on rates for 20 new parking spaces on Baltimore Street.
The new spots resulted from a recently completed downtown remodel project that opened the street to one-way vehicle and bicycle traffic.
The council members discussed a parking proposal at a work session followed by a public meeting Tuesday.
The plan would have included the spaces in a ParkMobile app zone, and limited them to two-hour parking, with a time reset gap of 30 minutes between two-hour cycles, for $2 per hour.
After deliberation, the council decided to amend the proposal so that the app would provide free parking in the spaces for the first 15 minutes, which would allow shoppers and folks picking up food takeout orders to “grab something and go,” Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss said.
Councilman Brian Lepley said he’s watched some cars stay parked for hours in the spaces.
“I think it’s 100% being abused,” he said of the current free parking at the spots.
Lepley said some folks wouldn’t like the app, and asked if new kiosks could be used.
Cumberland Administrator Jeff Silka said the booths would cost roughly $10,000 each and be cumbersome in the area.
“There’s the aesthetic,” he said, adding that the newly improved Baltimore Street wasn’t designed for kiosks.
Silka said that the app includes a telephone number for folks to call if they have problems or want to pay for the parking via phone.
He said code enforcement officers could be trained to use the app and instruct downtown visitors who need help.
Silka addressed questions of whether the spaces could remain free.
That would be “almost impossible” to enforce, he said and added the app would allow for record of how long a car occupied a parking space.
Additionally, “nobody has meters anymore,” Silka said.
Councilmen Eugene Frazier and Rock Cioni initially opposed the app idea, but seemed more favorable after learning the first 15 minutes of parking could be free.
“That’s a game changer to me,” Frazier said.
Becky McClarran, marketing chairwoman of the Downtown Cumberland Business Association, co-op vendor at Fort Cumberland Emporium on Baltimore Street and an owner at McClarran and Williams Inc., said many downtown employees would struggle with the app.
If folks abused the two-hour maximum free parking in the spaces, they could be ticketed, she said.
McClarran asked why there should be a charge for the Baltimore Street spaces when nearby, parking on North Centre and North Liberty streets is free.
She asked the council to keep parking in the Baltimore Streets spaces free for six months.
Several folks at the city’s subsequent public meeting said they were concerned about charging for the Baltimore Street spaces.
Downtown Hobbies & Toys owner Brian Bowers said he was concerned the proposed parking system would drive some shoppers away.
“My parents don’t even know what an app is,” he said.
Parking should be free in the city, or at least costs for spaces should be consistent, Bowers said.
Larry Jackson co-owns Western Maryland Music Center on Baltimore Street and chairs the Downtown Development Commission.
He said downtown merchants should be consulted about the parking proposal.
The Baltimore Street spaces are new since the remodel project ended and should remain free, Jackson said.
“It’s too soon,” he said of implementing parking fees now. “We haven’t let the cake bake.”
The parking phone app is “not user friendly” said Janet Wunderlick, who owns property downtown with her husband, John.
“We don’t need it here,” she said.
The mayor and council are expected to vote on the issue at the city’s next public meeting.