Avon survey reveals people are still displeased with paid parking in town
Residents and others alike overwhelmingly say they change their travel patterns to avoid town's commercial core
Zoe Goldstein/Vail Daily
When both private and public paid parking were introduced in Avon in late 2023, it prompted significant public outcry. A survey of Avon parkers conducted by the town this winter reveals that, over a year later, people are still displeased.
Liz Wood, Avon’s communications and marketing manager, presented the results of the survey to the Town Council on Tuesday.
Paid parking prompted outcry when implemented in Avon in fall 2023
Avon implemented its managed parking program in December 2023. Avon’s goal, the same since the idea of a parking program was first discussed in November 2021, was to preserve the town’s parking spaces for people using the town’s amenities and visiting the town’s businesses.
In the first phase, the town only provided warnings. The town started ticketing with the introduction of the second phase in January 2024.
Parking is enforced in Avon every day, with no weekend or holiday changes, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. All cars must register via text or app to receive three hours of free parking, followed by $1 for each subsequent hour. Parking in the lot at 1 Lake Street by Harry A. Nottingham Park was free all day without registration, but the lot closed this week for renovations.
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Avon’s parking system is monitored by two code enforcement officers from the town’s police department who provide paper warnings and tickets to those in violation. Parkers who fail to comply with Avon’s system will receive a $35 ticket, which increases to $85 if unpaid after 45 days, and goes up again if it remains unpaid.
The Avon Police Department is only tasked with enforcing parking on public property. Officers can become involved with private parking if there is a specific request from a property owner to issue a ticket for a parking violation. That is “rare, but it happens,” said Greg Daly, Avon chief of police.
Daly noted that the private lot must display “sufficient signage” for the police to issue a ticket.
Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate is a Naples, Florida-based company that purchased a significant portion of downtown Avon in 2013. In November 2023, the company implemented its own paid parking program on the private lots it previously operated for free, citing the need to protect local businesses against skier parking.
Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate’s parking system offers three hours for free with registration and then charges on a staggered scale for parking 24 hours per day. The payment system is enforced via cameras throughout the lots that capture a picture of each license plate as drivers enter and exit the lot. Those that fail to pay will receive an $87 ticket mailed to the address connected to their license plate.
Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate’s parking system received significant pushback from residents and business owners in the town when it was first implemented. Complaints addressed the initial lack of signage, inaccurate camera captures, payment system failures and overall concerns that the paid parking would result in fewer customers as people avoided parking in the paid lots.
After several conversations with the town and multiple Town Council meetings in which residents and business owners expressed their frustrations, Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate significantly increased the amount of signage in its lots, and the system’s technology seemed to improve.
Avon parking survey shows most people still have complaints
Last year, Avon conducted a general community survey and parking was one of the most remarked upon issues. To follow up, the town conducted a five-question survey exclusively about parking from Dec. 2 through Jan 21 this year.
Responses to the parking survey came in fast, Wood said. The survey received over 1,100 responses from a combination of Avon residents (37%), Eagle County residents and out-of-towners. (The survey did not differentiate between non-Avon respondents.)
Almost all survey respondents (95%) said they reduced or entirely avoided traveling to Avon’s commercial core due to the parking management. This split was the same across both Avon residents and general survey takers.
This might seem to point to Avon business owner concerns from January 2024 that the paid parking would impact their customers, and therefore their revenue. In preparation for the presentation, Wood’s team pulled sales tax information from the finance department. Wood said the numbers did not show a drop in sales tax in Avon that correlated to the managed parking.
The survey received overwhelmingly negative (75%) responses in the open-ended section. Nearly 12% of the close to 800 responses in this section specifically mentioned “Hoffmann Properties.”
Other open-ended responses expressed requests for free summer parking, frustration about having to register to park for free and cited challenges for employees of Avon businesses.
Despite the survey results showing that Avon residents have concerns about paid parking on par with those that live elsewhere, the more recent complaints about parking that some Town Council members have received via email have not been from locals.
“When we hear from somebody very unhappy about parking, they are from out of town, not Eagle County,” said Tamra Nottingham Underwood, Avon mayor.
Following Tuesday’s public meeting, the council held an executive session to receive advice on the town’s legal ability to regulate private parking. The topic of paid parking will return during a future council meeting.
