'A bullet we have to bite': Ogden OKs downtown paid parking plan

OGDEN — Expect parking kiosks to start sprouting along Historic 25th Street and other downtown streets.

After years of on-and-off discussion, notably in the last three weeks, the Ogden City Council on Tuesday approved implementation of a paid parking system in the zone. The kiosks and signage serving the first phase of the system will be installed this month, and motorists will have to start paying to park in the impacted areas 30 days after that, possibly on June 15.

Fees will range from $1.50 to $2 an hour for street parking and $1 to $1.50 for off-street parking, including in a new eight-level parking garage in what's dubbed the WonderBlock area. Downtown workers will be able to get $10-a-month permits to park downtown.

Numerous residents and downtown merchants spoke out against the plans for about an hour during a public hearing ahead of Tuesday's vote, worried the change would drive business away from the area. Along with the WonderBlock project, the proposed upgrade of Union Station and other initiatives, paid parking is one prong of long-term plans to overhaul the dynamics in the city center to bolster activity in the zone.

"I don't think anyone's going to be happy ... with this," said Councilman Shaun Myers. The change, however, is "a bullet we have to bite."

The two measures, one calling for implementation of paid parking and the other setting parking rates, passed in 5-2 votes.

Critics also voiced concerns in the fall of 2024 ahead of an earlier proposed rollout of paid parking, when Mayor Ben Nadolski put a pause on the moves given the backlash. With Tuesday's action, however, paid parking, a focus of discussion dating to 2020, is returning.

Installation of kiosks where motorists can pay to park utilizing a system developed by Passport Parking is to start next week. A trial period will follow when "visitors will be encouraged to use the Passport mobile app or kiosks to become familiar with the system. Managed parking is scheduled to officially begin on June 15," city spokesman Mike McBride said.

Concerns of some notwithstanding, City Council Chairman Rich Hyer said consultants the city hired with experience in other cities similar to Ogden offered a different take on paid parking. "They did not have those same concerns," he said.

Hyer remembers paid parking was the norm years ago in Ogden via a network of meters. Back in the 1960s, he said it cost 25 cents an hour to park, which, factoring inflation, equates to perhaps $2.50 in 2026 dollars, still less, in real terms, than what it will cost now.

Funds generated by paid parking are to be used to cover operational costs of two parking garages in the WonderBlock area, a residential and commercial zone of high-rise buildings taking shape just south of Historic 25th Street. One of the garages is complete, the other still in the works. The revenue will also be tapped to help cover the cost of bonding to build the garages, some $60.13 million.

In the first phase, paid parking is to be implemented along 25th Street from Wall Avenue to Washington Boulevard, a popular retail and dining destination. It will also be implemented in the WonderBlock garage and in a parking area on the north side of the commercial buildings fronting the 100 and 200 blocks of 25th Street, called the Electric Alley. Additional areas include part of Kiesel Avenue adjacent to the Junction entertainment zone and part of 23rd Street.

Parking, at least for now, will remain free in the two city-owned garages in the Junction and at Union Station. Two more phases of paid parking are to be rolled out going forward, but not for at least six months in areas that still have to be defined.

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