MOUNT VERNON – Beginning Jan. 2, Mount Vernon Parking Company will increase enforcement of its downtown parking regulations, in an effort to ensure parking for customers and merchants in the growing Central Business District.
The company owns four downtown lots, holding a total of 144 parking spaces. 77 of the spaces are available for free, three-hour parking, while the remaining 67 are available for rent.
Mount Vernon Parking Company President Phil Herald said the company’s regulations have not been heavily enforced recently due to construction at the Woodward Opera House. Construction trucks needed to use the lots from time to time in order to complete the project, and the company “granted them the ability to do their job and get it done as quickly as possible.”
Now that construction is wrapping up, the company is going back to its regular parking enforcement policy.
Parking attendants will begin to enforce the three-hour limits in the lots shown below. After three notices of invalid parking, vehicles will be towed to either Blubaugh Body and Frame or Howard Street Garage, as noted on lot signage. Howard Street Garage has a $90 plus-tax towing fee and both companies charge $20 per day in impound fees.
Herald said parking enforcement downtown will become increasingly important with the growing number of merchants and customers occupying the space.
“There are a lot more people downtown now. It’s different from two or three years ago,” said Herald, who is also a local business owner. “There are more people working downtown, more people shopping downtown. So we never really wanted to tow, and we don’t want to tow now, but we need to ensure the parking for viable customers that need to shop.”
Herald said his company’s board held a public informational meeting on Tuesday about the changes, and he’s talked with downtown merchants about the idea. He said support for the idea was loud and clear.
“Pretty much everyone agreed that this needed to be done,” Herald said.
Here are the locations of the company’s four downtown parking lots:
- Mulberry St. (53 free, three-hour parking spaces) – located on the east side of Mulberry St., between W. Vine and W. Gambier streets.
- W. Vine St. (10 rented, 10 free, three-hour parking spaces) – located on the north side of W. Vine St., on the corner of W. Vine and S. Mulberry streets.
- Ohio Ave. (14 rented, 14 free, three-hour parking spaces) – located on the south side of W. Ohio Ave., on the corner of W. Ohio Ave. and S. Main St.
- Gay St. (43 rented parking spaces) – located on S. Gay St., between E. Gambier and E. Vine streets.
According to a press release, Mount Vernon Parking Company was established in the 1950s “as a way to obtain and maintain parking areas for the customers of merchants and professional people of the Central Business District.” It is a not-for-profit company and all board members are volunteers.
In order to maintain the parking lots, especially through the winter months, the parking company relies on three major sources of funding – the city bed tax, investor membership, and lot rentals. This funding allows day-to-day upkeep and the daily monitoring of spots.
“Downtown Mount Vernon is a growing community,” Herald said in the press release. “With the new businesses, organizations, and almost completion of the Woodward Opera House renovation, it is time to make sure customer parking downtown is enforced to support the continued growth of our downtown businesses and restaurants.”
