During a marathon-length meeting Tuesday, the Ogden City Council voted 5-2 in favor of implementing managed parking in downtown and 5-2 in favor of adopting the fee structure. The city, as part of its bond obligations on the WonderBlock adopted three years ago, was required to implement a system of managed parking at some point.

A presentation on the paid parking plan also stated several reasons for the implementation of paid parking, including promoting turnover and access to spots, reducing congestion, maintaining parking infrastructure and improving customer experience.

However, not everyone is sold on the idea and several people spoke in opposition of the plan.

In the days preceding Tuesday’s meeting, petitioners gathered thousands of signatures from residents, downtown employees and area businesses in opposition.

One resident cited timing and a belief the city has enough to cover parking needs.

“The city has over $25 million in reserves,” he said. “That’s not a rumor, that’s public record. You have more than enough to maintain downtown parking without charging a dime. If this is about revenue, the honest question is, ‘Why aren’t you using the money you already have?’ Second, the timing — we are in the middle of a record inflation, high gas prices and skyrocketing living costs.”

Council Vice Chair Dave Graff related the issue to his time working in small business.

“I was an independent contract sales representative,” he said. “Every time my manufacturer thought they had a better idea around pricing or marketing or approach to the marketplace, I oftentimes would respond emotionally. ‘You’ve got your head in the dark. You’re going to put us both out of business.’ In some instances, I was right, they were wrong and they backed it up and discontinued the program. In other instances, I was proved wrong and they were right and my business flourished as a result, so I learned to keep an open mind about change as I progressed through my 30 years.”

Council member Kevin Lundell said he had some concerns going forward with the plan.

“I’m not opposed to paid parking in general, I am concerned about the timing of this,” he said. “I don’t think we know what the parking situation is really like currently. Also, even in the study, 50% peak parking across the city not really the threshold I have seen in studies that warrant this. It’s usually 65% and higher.”

Lundell was joined by Council Member Alicia Washington in voting against the managed parking plan and fees.

Budget Season

Tuesday’s meeting also included the introduction of the mayor’s proposed FY2027 city budget.

During his presentation, Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski noted that there will be some major upgrades to the city’s police and fire services.

“For our fire department, we are making a really big shift from a complaint-driven approach to a proactive model,” he said. “That’s the whole point and purpose of the community risk reduction team — it’s to make sure that we are seeing dangers and risks before they become an emergency. We want to address them through proactive work making sure we don’t have to address them later through reactive work, complaint-driven models.”

He said that the city will also be adding an additional firefighter position through the medical fund.

As for the Ogden City Police Department, Nadolski said the city is looking to make additional positions permanent due to an uptick in demand for services.

“For the police department, we had five prior-approved police officer positions that we’re asking to be made permanent,” he said. “This is in support of continued service demand and response needs and ongoing investment in police overtime. We have seen an enormous uptick in demands for services related to protests. We are manning and staffing these to make sure our city’s First Amendment rights are protected and that people are safe as they exercise those rights. That’s a priority for us, but I want to recognize it comes at a cost.”

The city is not seeking a rise in taxes at this time and there will be additional public hearings on the budget in the coming weeks. The City Council unanimously voted to accept the budget for review.