By Sean Copeland, Contributing Writer
Parking in many cities has always been a source of stress. At the beginning of this year, the city of Detroit started charging in certain areas for parking and safety violations on Sundays – instances that will now warrant a ticket include parking in front of fire hydrants and bus stops.
The city’s website lists guidelines on where citizens can park near certain objects. Citizens are allowed to park 30 feet from a stop sign, yield sign, or traffic control signal. Parking is allowed 15 feet from a fire hydrant and five feet from a driveway with a curb cut of 10 feet. The website announced this change in mid-December and stated that the change would be in certain areas of the city, mostly parts of Midtown and Downtown.
The first wave of changes began on January 2, and enforcement of residential parking zones started on February 16. The zones have been implemented to allow area residents to have more spaces to park. The zones are available for anyone who wants to park, but after certain times, spaces will be limited to residents with permits.
The change was requested by residents and approved by the city council as some area residents complained that they couldn’t find parking when returning to their apartments at night due to incoming visitors for area restaurants, shopping, nightlife, and more. Parking in Midtown can be a challenge on game days, concert days, and particularly in the area surrounding Little Caesars Arena. Downtown parking shares similar challenges in the areas around Ford Field, Comerica Park, Fox Theatre, and District Detroit.
“We worked very hard with Council President Mary Sheffield and former Council Member Castaneda-Lopez to draft this ordinance which gives us the ability to create Residential Parking Zones that are laser-focused on the issues surrounding each individual neighborhood,” said Keith Hutchings, Director of the Municipal Parking Department in a December 2023 press release.
Upon the changes made, residential parking zones have been established so that residents in certain areas without driveways and garages by their homes can have nearby places to leave their vehicles. The residential parking zones as of now are Cass Park, Selden, Southern Brush Park, and Central Brush Park. As of now, metered street parking is still free on Sundays.
A total of 2,929 safety violation tickets made up most of the tickets issued on Sundays in 2024 as of February 25. A total of 18 residential parking zone tickets were issued during this same time. These are the only tickets that are written in the city on Sundays since the new changes have been implemented. Street parking transactions saw an increase in January and February 2024 from the same time last year. Coin, card, and mobile parking transactions totaled roughly $585,046 during January and February 2024 as of Wednesday, February 28. For the same period in 2023, the total transactions were roughly $553,553, according to the City of Detroit Municipal Parking Department.
As for the new changes, Hutchings is pleased with the results. “Municipal Parking is pleased with the residential parking results to date. In areas where residential parking is in place, parking compliance has immediately improved,” said Hutchings in a statement to the Michigan Chronicle.
“This will continue to enhance parking conditions as enforcement reinforces the residential parking program. The department continues to work with residents to assist in registration for residential permits and education regarding the program. We anticipate the residential parking program will enhance the quality of life for residents that have long suffered with parking availability.”
For more information and updates regarding parking in the city of Detroit, residents can visit the Municipal Parking Department’s official website at detroitmi.gov/departments/municipal-parking-department.
About Post Author
