Advertisement

‘We’re still digging out’: Durham business owners tell city, don’t raise parking fees.

Laura Butler, the owner of a hair salon on Chapel Hill Street, says her business has validated parking for her customers since it opened in 2009.

But as parking in downtown Durham is about to become more expensive, the owner of Rock, Paper, Scissors Salon and Gallery strongly urged the city to find a way to keep rates low for her employees.

“To increase the hourly monthly rate by such a large amount, as well as 8% increase in my rent, supply increases, gas increases, I fear that my 13-year-old business will soon be priced out of Durham,” Butler told the Durham City Council on Thursday.

“The large increase puts the burden of the city’s debt for parking onto the service industry business and folks who have to work in-person and can’t work from home,” she added.

The city is considering raising parking fees and penalties because its parking facilities are losing money. Currently, parking costs $1.50 in garages and on the street, and is free after 7 p.m. on weekdays and weekends. But the proposed increase would increase that to $2.25 to park in a city garage and $2.50 to park on the street.

At least some council members plan to support the increase.

“When folk come to town ... many of them are parking at rates that are not comparable in other major cities — we have been behind the curve in terms of pricing for that commodity here in Durham,” said Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton.

“The last thing we want to do is put greater hardship on employers and people that make the city go ... But we’re going to have do what’s necessary to stabilize the city’s parking fund ... and find creative ways to help people,” he added.

The Transportation Department studied how much peer cities charge for parking. Durham’s current monthly rate of $100 is near the middle. The monthly parking rate in Raleigh and Chapel Hill is $125.

The study also concluded, “these increases are necessary to allow appropriate investment in infrastructure and technology, maintenance of facilities, provision of overall facility security, and to maintain the Parking Enterprise Fund.”

Council members tentatively approved but did not implement the changes back in March. Now, if officially approved by the council June 6, residents can expect to see these changes take effect in July.

But small business owners downtown say the increase adds more stress and strain on them as they are still trying to economically recover from impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subsidy Initiative

Seth Gross owns two businesses downtown: Pomperi Pizza and Bull City Burger and Brewery. He says that small businesses require “foot-traffic” that has diminished since 2020.

“For us, business has not returned to where it was in 2019 yet ... we’re still digging out of this hole,” Gross said.

“Maybe most importantly, the cost of parking is hurting employees. These are people who work in the city and it adds a burden to hire employees,” he added. “Raising parking rates for an employee means they have to give up their first hour of pay if they work a full day shift.”

Transportation Director Sean Egan said a voucher program will be established to cover half the cost of any monthly pass to qualifying individuals.

“The standard rate for a monthly pass in our decks is proposed to increase from $100 per month today to $140 per month in July. For qualifying individuals, up to 200% of the federal poverty level, the price would effectively be cut from $100 per month today to $70 per month in July,” he wrote in an email to The News & Observer.

According to Egan, research indicates that 200% of the federal poverty level is:

  • $25,520 for a single person

  • $34,480 for a family of two

  • $43,440 for a family of three

  • $54,400 for a family of four

The Durham Report

Calling Bull City readers! We've launched The Durham Report, a free weekly digest of some of the top stories for and about Durham published in The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. Get your newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday at 11 a.m. featuring links to stories by our local journalists. Sign up for our newsletter here. For even more Durham-focused news and conversation, join our Facebook group "The Story of my Street."