Parking committee sets uniform $20 special-event fee starting at 8 a.m.; Gay Street open-air market excluded

The West Chester Borough Parking Committee voted during its July meeting to adopt a standard special-event parking approach for the town-center area: a $20 all-day fee starting at 8 a.m. for both garages and surface lots, and a process to allow vendor passes and limited sponsorships.

Sheila Vaccaro, chair of the committee, read a summary of the group’s decisions: "Start times for special event is 8AM. It is in the garages and all the lots. It is $20 for the day. The $20 fee ends when the event ends." Committee discussion clarified that the fee would apply to town-center garages and lots and that monthly parkers with passes are not subject to the one-day fee.

Organizers and vendors pressed for exceptions. An event organizer who said he had organized many town events argued that vendors should not be charged both event fees and parking; the committee responded that organizers can register vendors and that vendor parking passes could be issued. Committee members said the garages are the only reliable revenue source on event days and recommended testing policies (for example, how the Christmas parade implementation goes) before broader changes.

Committee members debated whether recurring weekend Gay Street closures and the open-air market should be treated as special events. Several members said the long-running Gay Street open-air market functions differently from one-day special-event permits and recommended classifying it outside the special-event fee structure. The committee discussed updating local code (Chapter 90A) to clarify the open-air market’s status and to exempt it from special-event fees.

On sponsorships and revenue-sharing, the committee agreed not to tie direct vendor reimbursement to vehicle counts and to let a separate process, potentially handled by finance or council, set any limited sponsorship awards. The group asked staff and the finance committee to propose a process and deadlines for event sponsorship requests and caps on sponsored events.

No formal roll-call vote with named tallies was recorded in the transcript for this policy; the committee concluded the discussion by recording its decisions and directing staff to implement and return with process details.