The city of Fayetteville says its downtown parking system needs a significant overhaul, unveiling a set of changes it argues will stabilize the program and reduce its reliance on taxpayer dollars.
A three‑part proposal includes higher special‑event rates, increased citation fees, and converting a permit‑only lot into paid parking, according to a presentation by Assistant Public Services Director Brian McGill during a City Council work session on August 3.
The recommendations arrive after months of budget discussions in which council members signaled they wanted to avoid raising the property tax rate—a decision that left staff searching for new revenue inside the parking program, which has been operating at a deficit for years.
The city contracts with a third‑party parking management company operating as “Park Fayetteville” to run downtown parking. The company manages the parking system, collects fees, and cleans and maintains parking decks. The same operation has gone through different names, including Republic Parking.
They have a five-year contract that expires this year, Assistant City Manager Jeff Yates told CityView in May. The contract costs about $750,000 per year, Yates said.
McGill described the proposed changes as the first phase of a broader restructuring. Fayetteville is in the final stages of selecting a new parking management vendor, with a proposed contract expected to reach the City Council on September 14 and enforcement under the new agreement, if approved, beginning October 1.
The new vendor and its consultant would then return with a second phase of recommendations after a deeper analysis of the system later this year.
Although city staff said they would present official recommendations at the August 24 council meeting, that did not happen. The city is working on responding to CityView’s question about when the recommendations will be considered by the council.
Budget Pressure Fueling Overhaul
The push for changes stems from a budget conversation that unfolded earlier this year. During spring budget workshops, city staff repeatedly pointed to the parking program as one of the few levers available to balance the budget without raising the property tax rate.
Parking in Fayetteville is treated as an enterprise‑style operation, similar to transit: fees and fines are supposed to cover most or all of its costs. Right now, it doesn’t.
Yates told council in May that the parking fund’s operating budget is just over $1.1 million, but the system brings in only about $550,000 a year. The remaining $544,000 comes from the city’s General Fund, meaning taxpayers are subsidizing an operation intended to be self‑supporting.
The City Council approved a fiscal 2027 budget in June that reduced General Fund support for parking by $250,000 and directed staff to identify changes that would generate enough revenue to support operations.
McGill’s recommendations are the first step toward closing that gap.
Higher Fees, Shift in Special‑Event Pricing
According to a 2019 parking study, total parking within downtown and a 5- to 7-minute walk from Segra Stadium includes 4,360 spaces, including on-street, public off-street, private off-street, and government parking. The vast majority of downtown parking is in off-street facilities.
For downtown, the Hay Street Deck and Franklin Street Deck are options for parking, with the rate for each being $1 per hour with the first hour free. There is a maximum charge of $5 per day, according to the city website.
On-street parking is $1 per hour and does not include a maximum charge or time-limit.
During special events, such as baseball games, the city charges $5 per parking space in the more than 1,100 parking spaces across the 12 city-monitored downtown parking lots.
One of McGill’s recommendations is doubling the special‑event rate at the Hay Street parking deck from $5 to $10. He said staff met twice with the Downtown Alliance, a business advocacy organization, in early 2025 and 2026 and heard anecdotal support for the higher price.
The idea, he said, is that price‑sensitive drivers will park farther away and walk past downtown storefronts, potentially boosting business as they pass “things in the windows that they want to buy their kids.”
McGill also proposed raising a slew of parking citation fees after reviewing penalties in the 10 largest North Carolina cities plus Asheville.
“We found that Fayetteville, pretty much across the board, has below‑average citation penalties or citation fees,” he said.
For example, Fayetteville gives a fine of $25 for a fire hydrant violation. Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem, Carl, and Asheville charge $50, while it’s $100 in Charlotte and Wilmington.
For an overtime violation on the street Fayetteville fines $15, while Raleigh charges $20, Charlotte $25, and Cary $50.
His review included 19 categories of violations and fees. Thirteen violation fees increased, four remained the same, two were added, and two were eliminated—a judgment fee and a repeat overtime violation citation—that most other cities don’t impose.
Increases range from $5 to $20.
Finally, McGill recommended converting the Bow & Ann Lot permit‑only lot, located at the corner of Bow Street and Ann Street, into a paid lot to add usable capacity downtown.
Council Debates Enforcement, Downtown Impact
During the August 3 work session, Mayor Mitch Colvin said he was OK with the citation changes and special events price rise. But he also expressed concern about raising costs for visitors at a time when downtown is still trying to draw people in.
“These downtown businesses are talking to us more about needing a draw, and you don’t want to discourage anything because they are trying to draw right now,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of message this sends in a time where people are in that mode, you know, because we’re trying to still bring things to magnetize it.”
City Manager Doug Hewett responded by saying that those types of concerns could be brought up after the city locks in the new contract. “We can hit that question head-on with the new consultant that we would like for y’all to engage about what, when, and the timing,” he said.
Hewett noted that the recommendations do not include changing enforcement hours. Regular parking is enforced Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“It really penalizes people who work downtown,” he said, adding that the non-enforcement would benefit visitors to downtown.
Colvin also questioned why the monthly parking permit at the Hay Street deck is remaining at $50.
“If we’re looking for more revenue, how do we look over it,” he asked.
Hewett responded that the city wants downtown workers and residents to park in the deck to free up on‑street spaces.
He added that type of question may be best addressed with the new consultant they would get with the new parking contract. He also pointed out that there was only one month left of baseball left and that the Woodpeckers regular season ends on Sunday.
“So I guess if you’re asking the juice worth to squeeze in the near term, I’d probably say I would recommend that y’all allow us to get the parking management consultant and come in with a whole host of recommendations that y’all can consider instead,” Hewett said.
Councilmember Shaun McMillan urged colleagues to slow down and make room for residents to weigh in. He said the city should “make some space for the public to hear this tonight, and then have time to react and give some input prior to taking action.”
His call for a more formal public feedback process went largely unaddressed; the council quickly shifted to a procedural motion from Councilmember Malik Davis to simply receive the report, which passed unanimously.
Government reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader can be reached at rheimann@cityviewnc.com or 910-988-8045.
