PRESCOTT, Wis. — People in Prescott, Wisconsin are fired up over a proposal to add paid parking in the downtown area.
The small river town can bring in thousands of people throughout summertime. City leaders say the plan would help stimulate turnover and open up new spots while lessening congestion and potentially bringing in about $75,000 in more revenue every year.
But if you ask most of the business owners, they say the parking isn't the problem.
"It's really only a couple hours, a couple days, a couple months of the year that we're that busy, the rest of the year it's a struggle," said The Twisted Oak Coffee House owner Matt Bronk. "We have enough parking downtown here."
Bronk points to the free, paved parking lots and two-hour time limits that already exist and says that the nearly 420 spaces are just being poorly managed.
Bronk and dozens of other residents spoke out against the city's proposal at Monday's city council meeting.
"From a growth standpoint, is this going to help, probably not," said a business owner, adamant the fee would negatively impact her business.
"I'm not paying big city prices and my friends are not paying big city prices," said another resident. "We are a small town, let's keep it small-townish."
If the council approves the plan, it could start charging visitors $1.50 every hour as soon as October. There would be no maximum time limit either.
To enforce the plan, two Prescott police officers would scan license plates in pay station databases.
The city expects to use the additional revenue for other public services like the beautification of parks, Wi-Fi, snow removal and street maintenance.
Some of the frustrated people even offered up other solutions including boat slip fees and parking meters.
"I really truly believe this is a bad investment for Prescott," said Bronk. "They’re trying to create a solution for a problem that no longer really exists."
The city denied KARE 11's request for an interview, saying it wanted to first listen to what residents had to say during the public comment hearing. It hasn't made any decisions yet and does plan to take the issue up again at its next meeting on September 11.
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist: