STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

One person wants to make Ketchum an ice-free zone. Another wants to have reserved parking for VIPs during such events as the Sun Valley Film Festival.

The City of Ketchum hosted round two in its discussion about paid parking Thursday night at the Limelight Hotel. And, by and large, those who attended were happy with the proposals the city was making.

“We can try this out for a year and revisit it,” said Ketchum Mayor Neal Bradshaw. “It’s not like we’re building a building that we can’t tweak.”

Here’s what the city is proposing for its parking lots at First and Washington streets and Sixth and Leadville streets, where it instituted paid parking this past fall:

• The first hour of parking will be free and the signage will be improved explaining how to use the mobile app CallToPark and touch screen electronic payment systems to pay for parking.
• Parking will cost .50 cents per hour during daytime during peak seasons from June 15-Sept. 14 and Dec. 15-March 14. It would cost $1.50 an hour at night during peak season.
• Rates will drop to .25 cents an hour during day and .75 cents an hour at night the remainder of the year.
• The city will sell a limited number of permits on a quarterly basis for business people and others seeking unlimited parking on a first-come, first serve basis.

The goal of the paid parking is to encourage regular turnover, making it easier for tourists and customers to find parking spaces to run errands.

“People like the fact that we’re offering the first hour free. If they want to use it all day, they can pay for it,” said Bradshaw. “We want to create movement and flow, encourage those who work downtown to park a little bit outside the core to create space for customers.”

The city converted the two lots to paid parking just before Thanksgiving 2017. Initially, it charged $1.50 per hour for both lots. When it became apparent no one was parking in the lots, the city dropped the rates to .25 cents an hour during the day but kept the $1.50 rate in place from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Washington Street lot for movie and restaurant patrons.

After lowering the rate, the lot at First and Washington streets had an 80 percent bump in users. The parking lot at Sixth and Leadville had a 30 percent increase in users.

The city is not making money off parking fees, Bradshaw said. The cost of enforcement is more than the revenue.

The city will do a better job of enforcing the two-hour limits on city streets in response to comments made at the last workshop, he added.

The city also plans to collect data on traffic patterns during summer that can be used in considering future policies.

Julie Johnson, whose NourishMe sits near the Washington Street lot, said the city’s proposals are a good start. In the past, she said, workers from businesses a few blocks away used the lot for all-day parking lot.

“I don’t want to see it go to a developer and lose that parking,” she said, adding that she would be willing to purchase a parking permit.

“We’re worried the lot could be sold off, and then we’ll be saying, ‘Oh I wish we still had that parking,’ ” added her husband Gary Ashurst.

Bradshaw told Johnson she needs to educate her customers about how to use the paid parking.

“It could be a way to have clients come back,” he told her.

Respondents asked the city to “make it really obvious where unrestricted parking for employees should be.”

“It’s amazing how many move their cars every two hours when there’s unrestricted parking a couple blocks away,” noted another.

Several respondents said they want a walkable downtown with good sidewalks and lighting. Teach second homeowners that they, too, can walk, said one. Add more art and items of interest to sidewalks, such as the Labrador fiberglass sculptures that were set up around town 15 years ago, to promote interest in walking, said another.

“Make it so easy to walk people won’t even think about driving,” one wrote.

The city has invested $1.25 million on new sidewalks the past two years. This year it will spend $300,000, said Bradshaw.

City officials said there is no need for parking garage, which would cost $4 million to $6 million, if the parking is managed well. No one location provides easy walking to all downtown locations, anyway.

Architect Dale Bates concurred with that assessment.

“Every shopping trip begins and ends with a walk,” he added, “And that walk should be something special.”