Royal Oak parking: City commission to vote on new meters after mounting complaints
Royal Oak to decide on new parking meters
After years of complaints about the city's parking system, the Royal Oak City Commission is set to vote Monday on a new parking system with a different vendor.
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (FOX 2) - After years of complaints about parking in Royal Oak, the City Commission is expected to make a decision on a replacement system.
The commission has several pre-approved vendors it will consider during Monday night's vote.
The backstory:
The city has been exploring other parking options after issues with the current parking system and complaints from drivers.
Those who have expressed gripes about the parking system have been most upset about the Sentry Mobile meters, which use cameras to scan license plates and send tickets. There have also been issues with needing to back into spots on a busy downtown road because of these license plate cameras.
Earlier this year, the city invited the community to attend open houses where they could test out the potential new parking systems. One person who attended a parking open house said he felt the current meters are glitchy, but did have a good experience with the options he tested there.
Royal Oak plans to change 'nightmare' parking system in downtown
Parking in downtown Royal Oak has been called a "nightmare" by many for years. But the city says changes are on the way, and they want to hear from the community.
Dig deeper:
This isn't the first time Royal Oak has made changes to parking system since implementing Sentry.
After pushback from business owners and visitors, the city increased the parking meter grace period and upped the max time a person can be parked at a meter.
What's next:
The city commission is scheduled to vote on a new parking vendor during its 7:30 p.m. meeting Monday.
The new system will not be implemented until next year.
The Source: Previous FOX 2 stories were used in this report.