Harrison Thorp 8:18 a.m.
Thursday, February 19, 2026 8:19 am
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ROCHESTER - Despite some late council angst over the Parking Commission's plan to bring paid parking to the downtown, the commission got its blessing to move on to codes and ordinances to hash out a city ordinance to bring back to the City Council for a final vote.
The plan calls for paid parking throughout the downtown, including the city's municipal parking lots behind City Hall, along Columbus Avenue, Union Street and several others.
Economic Development Director Mike Scala informed the City Council on Tuesday that at the request of the board had reduced typical out-of-time parking violations from $40 to $30.
Scala also announced that he had been able to successfully add a free 15-minute parking option that would be available throughout the paid parking system.
To use the free-parking option a driver would simply enter his license plate at a kiosk, which would trigger a timer that would hold any charge for the 15 minutes.
The free parking option would only be available to a specific vehicle once a day.
"This is designed for someone who wants to grab a quick lunch or a coffee," Scala said.
During the discussion City Councilor Kevin Sullivan said that while he was aware there were downtown business owners on the parking commission and that his sense was that this was being done to supposedly help downtown businesses, he didn't feel that downtown businesses were entirely on board.
"My understanding of this is businesses downtown, maybe not 100 percent, but the majority vote was like, 'We need this. '... but some residents say 'You're gonna kill the business' and that's a scary argument."
Parking Commission Chair Ralph DiBernardo said it may be true not every downtown business owner wants paid parking, but he said it's time has come.
"We all need something to happen to allow better solutions for the customers that are coming in," he said. "If you come into town Thursday night, Friday or Saturday, it's sometime impossible to park downtown, and it's often because lack of enforcement and residents taking up those spaces."
Councilor Les Horne urged the council to consider taking a step back and think about unintended consequences before moving forward with such a major change.
"I think we're going too fast," he said. "A lot of folks may might just go to malls. I don't think it's gonna serve a service for our citizens, and could hurt people who are downtown."
Toward the end of the discussion Sullivan added that if the outcome of the parking ordinance does not achieve what it was supposed to achieve, the city can always reverse course.
"Hey, if it turns out all bad for businesses, we can always change it back," he added.