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Meeting planned next week to discuss potential changes to permit parking in Lancaster

A sign on a Residential Parking Permit block on Lancaster’s west side outlines the zone’s restrictions. (Photo: Tim Stuhldreher)

Lancaster officials will unveil preliminary recommendations for changes to the city’s Residential Permit Parking program and invite public feedback at a meeting next week.

The session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 30, in Polite Council Chambers at City Hall, 120 N. Duke St.

The permit program, RPP for short, allows curbside parking to be designated permit-only during certain hours if enough residents of a particular block petition for the change. Adjacent residents and city officials say it has led to an inefficient and inequitable distribution of parking availability: Spots in RPP zones remain open while blocks nearby are jam-packed and inaccessible.

The blocks in red are enrolled in Lancaster’s Residential Parking Permit program. Click to enlarge.

This spring, the city launched a study of the RPP system in partnership with consulting firm Kimley Horn. The firm has been analyzing data on parking patterns as well as hundreds of responses to an online community survey.

On Tuesday, Kimley Horn and city staff will present their ideas for improving the program. Audience members will be able to offer comments and ask questions.

The city has stopped accepting new petitions to add RPP areas until it decides what modifications to make, if any. It intends to implement any changes before the start of next year, when permit holders must renew them.

In 2019, Kimley Horn completed a parking analysis for the Lancaster Parking Authority, covering downtown, the New Holland Avenue and Walnut Street corridors on the city’s east side, and the Southeast and Southwest neighborhoods.

It did not directly consider the RPP, looking instead at overall available parking inventory versus demand.

In the Southeast, it counted 7,809 parking spaces: 4,759 (61%) on-street and 3,050 (39%) off-street. In the Southwest, it counted 4,355 spaces, 1,638 (38%) on-street and 2,717 (62%) off-street.

For both the Southeast and Southwest, enough parking capacity exists, it concluded, but much of it is in private parking lots that are off-limits to neighborhood residents. Shared-use agreements could allow access during off-peak times, it said, but it noted that lot owners are often reluctant to take that step, due to the challenges of implementation and management.