City Council considers parking changes, funds infrastructure to-dos

Athens City Council decided against raising motorcycle parking fees and funded a number of infrastructure repairs and improvements at its meeting Monday night.

Originally, Council intended to double yearly motorcycle parking fees along with other parking fee increases to pay for administrative costs. Councilmember Samuel Crowl introduced an amendment to remove the motorcycle fees from the ordinance, saying the fees are already at a good level.

“My proposed amendment is just to not to do this increase at all. Maybe next year, maybe we can look at a more incremental, or maybe look at this more drastic doubling,” Crowl said. 

City Council decided to suspend a vote on the ordinance until a later date after Crowl’s amendment was introduced.

The Council also voted to suspend metered parking in the parking garage after 5 p.m. every Thursday and all day every Saturday starting Dec. 3 and ending Dec. 23. City Council regularly changes parking rules around the winter holiday season.

In other news, City Council passed ordinances that will seek to repair landslide damaged areas of the bike path, create new railings for the Stimson Avenue bridge and make improvements to West Union Street.

The Council also had first and second readings of a number of ordinances related to the city’s ongoing efforts to regulate short-term rentals, such as Airbnb or Vrbo.