Old Bend neighborhood’s pilot parking permit program begins

Two-hour parking 'working for us,' business says; permits cost $15-30 a year

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- On Jan. 1, the city of Bend implemented a new parking permit pilot program in the Old Bend neighborhood, near Delaware and Florida avenues.

Tobias Marx, the city's parking services manager, said Thursday the town's continued growth has left many Old Bend residents without parking.

"We engaged the neighborhood last year to say, 'How can we help?'" Marx said.

Old Bend residents, guests and those staying in rental properties will now be able to secure parking permits that will cost $15 to $30 a year.

"We set this up as a parking benefit district, which means that almost all funds and revenues that are created through permits and citations actually stay within that district boundary," Marx said.

Marx said neighbors can submit ideas for how to allocate the funds, and those can be voted on for various improvements or projects in the district.

"We also felt it would be really important to create two-hour parking areas around those business, so customers are, for lack of a better term, protected to have a place to park," Marx said.

And for employees who need more time?

"There are in-district employee permits that employees of small businesses can apply for," Marx said. "We priced them affordably, I believe it's $5 a month."

Marx said they'll seek more input from the area to figure out the best solutions.

Stephanie O'Brien from Iron Horse Second Hand can provide that -- not only as an employee, but as a resident, too.

"The two-hour implement is working for us," O'Brien said. "Our customers are usually not shopping for more than two hours."

As a resident she says she feels more secure about the neighborhood.

Prior to the pilot program, she said, RVs and campers lined her street, sometimes up to 30 days at a time.

"We saw a lot of drug deals go down," O'Brien said. "We saw a lot of harassment of pedestrians and other neighbors. It gave us an unsafe feeling."

The city's Parking Services department will report back to City Council before the end of the year, to see if the pilot is easing their parking squeeze.