City to discuss parking changes downtown

Parallel parking in Downtown El Paso may become a thing of the past, if City Council agrees to make changes proposed Tuesday.

City representative for District 8, Cortney Niland, added the proposal to the agenda.

Attached to the agenda item are the results of an extensive study involving Downtown employers and employees.

The study, called “El Paso Downtown Perceptions,” was conducted by the UTEP Institute for Policy and Economic Development for the city. Organizers wanted to get an idea of the “attitudes and perceptions of business owners and employees within the Downtown Management District, as well as El Paso County households, regarding several issues associated with downtown El Paso,” according to the wording in the study’s introduction.

The city wants to use the findings to improve public facilities and promote economic development, specifically in Downtown, the introduction continued.

Employers asked about the advantages of being downtown said the centralized location was the best perk. But a larger percentage said least advantageous aspect of the downtown location was the perceived lack of parking space.

The study listed the number of parking spaces in ground-level lots at 2,126. The number of spaces available in publicly accessible garages is 5,132.

The study did not list the number of curbside, metered spaces available downtown, nor did it touch on whether angled parking would create more spaces.

ABC-7 has a crew at the meeting this morning. Stay with ABC-7 on air or online at kvia.com for an update on this story.