Kalispell City Council supports license plate reader technology, higher fees to free up on-street parking

City councilors in Kalispell appeared willing to increase fines for parking violations and buy license plate reader technology to better enforce parking downtown.  

Councilors met Tuesday to consider recommendations made by the city’s Parking Advisory Board intended to free up on-street spaces by pushing employees who work downtown to the neighborhood’s paid permit lots.  

The board’s recommendations were inspired by a report from Downtown Kalispell Forward that detailed several short-term solutions to solving what the group described as a perceived parking crunch deterring visitors from shopping downtown.  

Chair Bill Moseley presented the group’s specific recommendations to Council, which on top of raising fines and procuring license plate readers included providing free, unlimited permits to business owners and their employees, converting on-street parking on Main Street to 90-minute parking and allowing city-owned downtown lots to be leased on weekends to nonprofit organizations.  

Most councilors appeared willing to buy license plate reader technology, which would be installed in two dedicated parking enforcement vehicles. The system would help officers more efficiently enforce time limits. 

City Manager Jarod Nygren said the system could be up and running by mid-summer. 

In the past, the city relied on a parking enforcement officer chalking tires to keep track of parked vehicles. But the system was inefficient as the officer could only check the same spot every four hours.  

“We really have not had true two-hour parking enforcement,” Nygren said.  

Councilor Dustin Leftridge, who supports the changes, said he would move his car every two hours and hide the chalk mark while working in his office downtown. If he couldn’t move it, he said the $10 ticket was essentially a day-long parking pass.  

To make sure drivers like Leftridge couldn’t shrug off the cost, councilors backed raising fines for parking violations. The advisory board recommended increasing the fee to $20, though some councilors wanted to go even higher.  

The license plate reader technology could result in violators being ticketed multiple times in one day.  

By cracking down on on-street parking, Downtown Kalispell Forward hopes that employees taking up on-street parking will be forced to avail themselves of the underused permit parking lots scattered around town.  

Although most lots are oversold or sold out, they remain largely empty because, city officials say, permit holders continue to park on Main Street because it is easier to dodge a violation or eat a $10 ticket.  

Councilor Kyle Waterman agreed, saying that while he held a permit to park at the Eagles Lot off First Avenue West, he uses on-street parking.  

Downtown Kalispell Forward wants the city to offer business and their employees free, unlimited parking permits. Councilors, however, appeared to support moving in the opposite direction by raising fees. 

Permit fees are currently between $18 and around $30 a month, which Councilor Wes Walker called laughable.  

“We need to value our parking more,” he said.  

Mayor Ryan Hutner agreed that giving away free permits sends the wrong message. 

“We need to get to the point where people are paying for their privilege of parking because that has value,” he said. 

Councilors appeared reluctant to open the Valley Bank lot for free public parking, per Downtown Kalispell Forward’s recommendation. The lot sits largely vacant, but Venezio said it rakes in the most revenue for the city because permits for it are among the most in demand.  

DESPITE THE recommendations, Councilor Sid Daoud proposed doing away with time restricted parking on Main Street, First Avenues East and West altogether and installing metered parking down the main thoroughfare. He also proposed opening all permit lots up to the public for free.   

“I’m trying to get us out of the business of monitoring spots using our law enforcement,” Daoud said. “It’s huge overhead.”  

While some councilors agreed that the city will need paid parking as Kalispell grows, they said meters are not warranted yet.  

“Right now, we need to have a short-term strategy,” Leftridge said.  

Hunter emphasized that the parking changes are not final and could be adjusted.   

“We’re going to try something, test the data, see where we’re at and see where that moves us forward,” Hunter said.  

Reporter Jack Underhill can be reached at 406-758-4407 or junderhill@dailyinterlake.com. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.