Downtown Columbia business group asks workers not to park in front of stores

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Downtown Columbia merchants' organization is asking its members to have their employees park somewhere else.

In the past two weeks, The District sent a flyer to Downtown businesses asking their employees not to park on the street in front of the stores, The District executive director Nickie Davis said.

The request is meant to increase the amount of on-street parking for customers.

The District wants business employees to park in garages. Davis suggests either a garage permit or a CoMo Park Card. Davis also said employees are welcome to park in lots on the outskirts of the
District.

"Well, there's multiple options, the garages are great, you can use permits, or you can get the Como Park card, which makes it a lot easier. You're also allowed to park there a lot longer than the average two hours span that the city allows. And then there are in specific areas of downtown on the outskirts on some random lots, there are meters that are different colors," Davis said.

The colored meters correspond with how long you can park there.

• Green: 10 hours
• Orange: 5 hours
• Purple: 4 hours
• Grey: 2 hours
• Red: 1 hour
• Yellow: 24 minutes

Sundays and evenings are free to park.

"Employees can go to https://www.como.gov/public-works/parking/parkmobile-downtown-permit/ where they can create an account and pay $35 per month to park at any green-topped parking meter downtown. We have a map that shows where green-topped parking meters are located at https://www.como.gov/Maps/Parking/. You can look for the green lines on this map to find the locations of the green-topped meters. If you pay a $35 flat fee per month, you can park at any green-topped meter for up to 24 hours at a time. This is the best and cheapest method for downtown employees to park downtown," John Ogan, of Columbia Public Works, said in an email.

Two construction projects are occurring Downtown, including work on a parking garage, according to Columbia Public Works. The projects are repaving streets and renovating the Eighth and Cherry parking garage.

Crews are repaving streets between 7 p.m.-7 a.m. every night this week and "no parking" signs will be placed on the affected streets.

The Tiger Hotel has 30 reserved on-street parking spots because it can't use valet spots in the Eighth and Cherry garage, according to Public Works.

Renovations on Eighth and Cherry should be finished by Friday, Aug. 11.