Carbondale council postpones vote on downtown parking fee and fine changes to Oct. 13

Council members on Sept. 29 deferred action on a proposed overhaul of Carbondale's downtown parking rules, voting unanimously to postpone a decision until the Oct. 13 meeting after lengthy council discussion and public input.

Staff presented a package that would raise timed parking from $0.25 to $0.75 per hour after the first two free hours, increase some resident and employee permit fees, and revise overtime and illegal-parking fines. The package also proposed raising daily parking at the Sims Center from $2 to $5 and obligating an app-based payment option in the future. Staff described prior council direction and said some proposed changes reflect rate adjustments last made in 2014 or earlier.

Council members debated trade-offs between encouraging downtown turnover and avoiding burdens on residents and workers. "My initial hope in this was to, again, get to the headline presentation of Carbondale makes downtown parking free, with, you know, some limitations within that," Council member Colombo said, summarizing the goal of striking a balance between access and revenue. Other members raised enforcement and equity concerns; Council member Lowes proposed making downtown parking free on Saturdays (and Sundays by council agreement) except for the Sims lot and Lot 14.

Public speakers urged caution before charging for the Amtrak/Sims lot without stronger security and clearer signage. Candace Achtold, who said she uses Amtrak frequently, told the council the city should not charge for a lot unless vehicles will be secure: "I don't feel like it's appropriate to charge if there's not gonna be proper, surveillance and security for vehicles." Local business and chamber representatives suggested mirroring Southern Illinois University’s app system for ease of use and better signage to reduce confusion.

After an informal series of suggested amendments and thumbs-up checks, Council member Colombo withdrew his original motion to approve the ordinance and Lowes moved to postpone the item to a date certain. The motion to postpone to Oct. 13 was seconded and passed on a roll call vote of 7–0 (Colombo, Kelman, Lowes, Maxwell, Roberts, Stanfield, Mayor Carolyn Harvey voting yes). The item will return to a future agenda with the edits the council discussed.