Parking remains a critical issue in Salt Lake City, especially as the city has grown to surpass 200,000 residents for the first time in its history, and it continues to draw in millions of visits every year.
“As our city has undergone a lot of dynamic changes over the last five, 10, 20 years, some of our parking needs have shifted, and that has been affecting residents and our visitors,” says Julie Crookston, deputy director of operations for the Salt Lake City Department of Public Services.
This spilled over to a parking review the city completed in 2022, which offered several recommendations to handle the issue. The city updated its paid parking meters last year to reflect some of the desired changes, but the city is now looking at other options, including expanding paid parking to areas of the city.
The Salt Lake City Council on Tuesday settled on five concepts that could alter the future of city parking that city planners will explore. It’s expected that some could be implemented “over the upcoming years.”
“We want to make sure there is available parking, (and) that there is no abuse or misuse of our street parking,” Salt Lake City Council Vice Chairman Alejandro Puy told KSL.com.
Potential parking changes that Salt Lake City is exploring:
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Create a new event parking management program to manage parking challenges from special events. This would look at the Fairpark neighborhood first, but it could be applied to other neighborhoods, possibly reaching areas by the University of Utah and the Ballpark neighborhood next.
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Extend active metering to include evenings and Saturdays, while also increasing the meter rate. The city could implement “flexible time” and “variable pricing zones” based on parking demand trends.
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Explore options to create a delivery permit system, including meters or dedicated stalls, for delivery vehicles. The city could also simplify freight loading zones with a time restriction without permits.
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Switch from a “pay by space” to a “pay by plate” system
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Raise citation fines, while also creating a new set of “targeted” citation fines for issues like illegal parking during events. The city could also create a new citation for “systematic” parking violations that come with steeper fines.
While many of the changes would apply to areas with paid parking that include downtown, Central City and some areas near the University of Utah, city leaders say it’s time to explore ways to help other areas of the city. Areas with events that attract big crowds but are otherwise relatively quiet neighborhoods are the first focus.
These include the neighborhoods by Rice-Eccles Stadium and other University of Utah facilities, as well as the streets by the Utah State Fairpark in the Fairpark neighborhood. There are designated parking for events in both areas, but residents often report crowded streets from people looking to avoid paying to park.
“I live in (East Liberty) but haven’t parked in front of my house for over a decade during a football game,” said Kristina Robb, chairwoman of the East Liberty Park Community Organization back in February 2024, as residents talked about potential concerns while the university forged forward with plans for a new baseball stadium next to Sunnyside Park.
Puy, whose district includes parts of Fairpark, said he’s heard many complaints from residents when the Utah State Fair is happening. The issue has only grown with more events taking place at the grounds throughout the year, including the Kilby Block Party and X Games this year.
He says he doesn’t have a problem with people finding creative ways to avoid paid parking, but he does have a problem when people block residential driveways or do anything else “creating havoc.”
The same goes for issues tied to delivery vehicles, which have risen downtown and across the city as residents turn to delivery options more frequently.
Other ways to address parking issues were discussed on Tuesday. Councilwoman Victoria Petro asked to review more 45-degree angle parking spots as a potential solution. Councilman Dan Dugan suggested that the city explore more ways to advertise public transportation and carpooling to special events, especially since TRAX has stops outside both Rice-Eccles Stadium and the Utah State Fairpark.
Puy said planners will review all the possibilities outlined on Tuesday and craft potential new codes for the City Council to vote on. It’s unclear when those will happen, but he said he hopes the council can address the situation this year.
“This is definitely one of those growing pains of being a city that’s just exploding in population and even in relevance for major (events),” he said. “(It) is great. We’re really excited about this, but we really need to create some guardrails so the system is not abused.”
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