City leaders discuss reducing free parking in downtown and more

The recommendations come from the 2025 Downtown Parking Study

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Here in the downtown area, there are four parking ramps and various spaces for off-street parking. But one study shows that many of the ramps are underused. And city leaders want to change that.

“We want to provide parking options for everyone. And the city’s made tremendous investments in off street ramps and lots. And so we want to make sure that people are aware of that parking and that longer term parking goes to those facilities. So that we can ensure short term parking is available on street for people who need to run to the coffee shop, run for a lunch, a meeting, etc. To support those businesses,” said Robert Ferrin, Senior Project Manager at Kimley-Horn.

Throughout the downtown area, much of the on-street parking has different time limits, which include overnight parking and holidays. But, Ferrin’s team is recommending the city consider reducing or removing free parking.

“We definitely want everybody to come downtown and spend as much time as they want. We just want people who are spending a lot of time downtown at businesses, residences, employers to park in the ramps and lots so that we get a lot of turnover on street for those businesses for quick access,” said Ferrin.

Early this year, the city had decommissioned the parking commission group. And now a new recommendation is to replace the commission by hiring a full-time parking manager for all the ramps and on-street parking

“In the long-term, we see a benefit of not only the city identifying a consolidating department to be the main point of contact of parking, but also to hire a full-time parking manager as your system grows and becomes more complex,” said Ferrin.

The new recommendations are said to be released to City Commissioners by October.

The team hopes that the city is able to find a new vendor and set a contract by January.