Bellefontaine Mayor Ben Stahler shared with the Bellefontaine City Council Tuesday evening about a major expansion to downtown parking.
“The growth that downtown Bellefontaine has seen over the last decade has been phenomenal,” the mayor said. “The restoration of buildings, storefronts being filled by businesses and a resurgence in opportunities to live downtown are driving growth and making Bellefontaine a destination.
“This is evidenced in part by two recent recognitions the city has received, including being named one of Ohio’s Best Hometowns by Ohio Magazine and being ranked as one of top communities in the country (14 of 494) within an hour of a large city by SmartAsset.
“However, along with this growth comes growing pains. The city administration saw this an opportunity to evaluate and improve upon parking in the downtown area.”
In response to this feedback from residents and downtown business owners, the city administration began to take close look at the available parking downtown and what changes might be to undertaken to improve the experience of residents and visitors to the downtown area, Stahler related.
To improve the number of available parking spaces, the city built a new parking lot west of the municipal building to be used for city business and city employees. In turn, this allowed the conversion of two lots previously utilized for city business (corner of west Columbus Avenue and north Elm Street and corner of Watson Way and north Detroit Street) to free public parking.
For ease of use, 50 cent parking was done away with, and those spaces were converted to free all-day parking. Several other small changes were made to other lots ,including changing Lot 6 (across from Native Coffee) and Lot 2 (beside the Holland Theatre) to all monthly rental parking, and changing Lot 5 (beside the Olive Tree) to a mix of free all-day parking and monthly rental parking.
The net result of these changes was:
• In addition to increasing the number of available spaces, the city will also be implementing overnight parking passes for downtown residents and their guests. Each apartment unit downtown will have the additional option to purchase one overnight rental tag, for $10.50 per month, that can be used in any vehicle, which allow them to park overnight for free any of the free all day parking areas downtown. In cases where a resident may have multiple guests staying overnight, additional one-time use overnight passes may be purchased from the Mayor’s Office at a cost of $2.
• The city is currently working to update the current electric vehicle chargers located in lot 3. The hopes to upgrade the chargers and double the number of available EV charging stations through a reimbursement program with AES Ohio.
“We’re excited that we’ve been able to address concerns with downtown parking by implementing these changes” Mayor Stahler said. “We see these changes as a way improve the experience for our residents and visitors alike. We are committed to continuing to work with the downtown community on issues such as this, and look forward to the continued growth and prosperity of our city”
Crews from the city Street Department are also in the process of giving each parking lot a face lift with the installation of new signage, which will be consistent from lot to lot. A map showing downtown parking areas will also be available on the city’s website at www.ci.bellefontaine.oh.us.
SUMMARY OF PARKING CHANGES
| Parking Type | Previous | Current |
| TOTAL SPACES | 734 | 766 (+32) |
| Three-hour parking spaces | 339 | 355 (+16) |
| Monthly rental spaces | 126 | 152 (+26) |
| Available rental spaces | 7 | 33 (+26) |
| City business/employee | 123 | 123 (no change) |
| $0.50 all-day parking | 84 | 0 (-84) |
| Free all-day parking | 40 | 112 (+72) |
| ADA spaces | 20 | 20 (no change |
| Electric Vehicle Charging | 2 | 4 (+2) |