OGDEN, Utah — Parking is an issue causing controversy in Ogden, especially on 25th Street. Now the city is putting plans of implementing paid parking there on hold.
"I don’t think that there’s adequate parking to support business and residents,” said Carl Cox, owner of Alaskan Gold Connection.
"It’s the heart of the city. So, this is not something that I’m willing to risk, I’m going to take the time to get it right,” said Ogden City Mayor, Ben Nadolski.
Ogden City has been working on a plan to introduce paid parking in Downtown. The hope has been to increase turnover in parking spaces, so more people can park and experience places like 25th Street. But businesses FOX13 spoke to, said don't want that.
"There is no parking elsewhere, so business owners are parking on 25th, which makes it a double problem, because our customers have no place to park,” said Cox. “If I’m parked out there, that means one customer can't get here."
He said businesses are worried about where their employees will have to park if paid parking is introduced, or they have to walk long ways to get to work.
The city has been hearing these concerns too. So at Tuesday night's Ogden city council meeting, Mayor Ben Nadolski announced they would pump the breaks on this project, to speak to more businesses on 25th street about what they want to see.
"I’m sorry that we missed you, genuinely. I’m also thankful that you’re here and I’m asking for an opportunity to hit pause for now, so that we can have the kind of conversations that they are asking for,” he said.
"It makes me feel pretty good, I feel like that’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Blake Lundell, co-owner of Lavender Vinyl.
Now, this doesn’t mean that paid parking won't be implemented — it just means that they won’t introduce anything new before more conversations. Lundell is worried about losing customers. "I do think that might deter people and I’ve seen people come in and ask about it, like I don’t know if I’m going to come down anymore if I have to pay for parking, so it’s definitely a scary thing,” he said.
"Honestly it's kind of a bummer,” said Madison Cook, who has lived in Ogden for about 6 months, but has been spent a lot of time here even before that.
Hoping that whatever happens next helps everyone. “It’s kind of a balancing act that you have,” said Cox.
