No more free street parking in downtown Salem starting July 10
Motorists will have to pay to park on downtown Salem streets starting on July 10.
The new system will bring an end to around 50 years of free downtown street parking. Free parking is currently allowed for three hours at a time at 1,106 street spaces.
Now, meter stations will allow paid parking for up to 12 hours at a time Monday through Saturday. Short-term parking in city-owned downtown garages will remain free. Those parkades have 2,045 spots.
The city plans to phase out an annual tax paid by downtown businesses which funds street and garage parking. As of 2024, the city taxed businesses $169 per space or a minimum of $469 annually. Each business pays based on a formula that considers square footage, type of business and parking demand created by the business.
City officials say the new changes are intended to generate money that can be used to pay for a downtown cleaning time, beautification downtown and security patrols in parking garages.
The revenue currently coming from the downtown parking tax and permit fees is not enough to cover the increased costs of operating the Downtown Parking District, established in 1976. The district spans from Northeast Front Street east to Northeast Church Street, and between Northeast Union Street south to Southeast Trade Street.
Such revenue has decreased in recent years due to closures of Nordstrom, JCPenney and TJ Maxx, as well as more people working remotely. The tax also hasn’t kept pace with inflation, according to a Salem City Council report.
Downtown parking taxes brought in around $345,000 last year.
There’s no set timeline for phasing them out, according to the council report. It will depend on how much money the new meters generate.
City councilors on Tuesday will discuss a proposed city law laying out specifics for the new paid parking system, including fines for drivers who don’t pay. The council would vote on the ordinance at a later meeting.
How to participate
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, and will be both in-person at the council chambers, 555 Liberty St. S.E., and available to watch online. Members of the public can submit a comment for any item on the council agenda.
To comment remotely, sign up on the city website between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Tuesday. The meeting will be livestreamed on YouTube in English and Spanish.
For written comments, email [email protected] before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, or submit on paper to the city recorder’s office at the Civic Center, 555 Liberty St. S.E., Room 225. Include a statement indicating the comment is for the public record.
Paid street parking will incentivize people to park for shorter amounts of time, which will free up spaces more frequently for new customers. It will also leave fewer cars circling to find a space, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a city web page with details about the new parking system.
Motorists who park on downtown streets will now have to input their license plate number at the pay station. Parking enforcement officers will periodically check the plate number to verify that the paid time for the vehicle hasn’t expired.
The stations will accept credit and debit cards as well as coins. There will also be a mobile payment option through a new app called Beep Beep Salem, which will be released this spring, the city website said. The app was not available on the IOS App Store or Google Play as of Friday afternoon.
In February 2023, the council directed city staff to put together a plan to charge motorists for street parking.
City officials have since spread the word about the new parking system through a public survey, a project website, informational brochures and meetings with downtown businesses and neighborhood associations, according to the recent council report.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered the justice system and public safety for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
