With the SDOT due to release its final parking plan for Fremont any day now, the Fremont Chamber of Commerce says the city cares more about making money than managing parking. “Everybody feels this is a revenue-generating tactic from the city,” says Jessica Vets, the chamber’s executive director in an interview with Fremont Universe. “There are paid parking lots all through Fremont, (but) nobody uses them. They’re underutilized.”

The chamber has led an aggressive campaign called “Keep Fremont Free” to protest the city’s plan to add paid parking meters throughout the neighborhood. The city, meanwhile, has called the parking situation in Fremont a “crisis,” holding community meetings and walking tours to get feedback on the plan. “When use of on-street parking spaces reaches 75 percent or higher, as it is throughout Fremont, SDOT considers implementing parking management changes to ensure that parking spaces are available for customers,” explains the SDOT web page on the Fremont plan.

SDOT revised the plan in late October, making adjustments to the map after hearing community feedback (see presentation), but most parking meters remain. Vets maintains that the city’s motivation is not to improve Fremont parking, but drive more revenue, potentially driving away Fremont visitors as businesses struggle with the economy. “We talked to the individual business owners, and they said, ‘This is just not my clientele. The people who shop here, the people who come to my store, they’re not parking meter people,’” said Vets. We’ll let you known when the final parking plan is made available.

Parking has always been a little tight in Fremont, but the city has a stronger word for it. “Parking really is in crisis in Fremont,” said city transportation spokesman Rick Sheridan in a Seattle PI article today. From the story:

The city also has arranged through Metro for more bus service through Fremont to help relieve parking pressure and is considering adding signs and creating more spaces. Sheridan said his department will push for enforcing rules, but more paid parking “may be a more customer-friendly approach.”

As we’ve been reporting, the Fremont Chamber has circulated a petition against the proposal to install pay parking kiosks. The petition ultimately received more than 2,000 signatures. The comment period is now complete, and the city expects to have a decision by November.

The Keep Fremont Free group is working hard to keep the paid parking kiosks out of the neighborhood — a plan that the city of Seattle is considering. So far, 806 people have signed the online petition, and more than 450 citizens have written in to express opposition to the proposed changes, according to an e-mail from City Councilman Richard McIver.

A recent study by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) shows that that the majority of blocks in the area were more than 75 percent full for most of the day, and that parking spots on the blocks between Fremont and Troll Avenues were as full as 90 percent. The proposed changes include two-hour paid parking at $1.25 per hour in the core business district, 10-hour paid parking around the core, installation of a residential parking zone to create a comprehensive mix of on-street parking, and change load zones to commercial vehicle load zones with pay stations (see map).

SDOT will continue to accept comments on the proposal until this Friday. They hopes to have their plan finalized in November and implemented early next year. To share feedback on the proposed parking plan for Fremont, residents can reach SDOT at communityparking@seattle.gov.

We wrote a couple weeks ago about the city’s proposal to install pay parking stations all around the neighborhood, and now there’s a new site called KeepFremontFree.com that opposes the move. So far, 250 people have signed the online petition. “Let’s deal proactively and creatively with transportation issues,” urges the site, which is promoted by the Fremont Chamber of Commerce. “More bike racks. Create opportunities to plug in electric cars. Develop better public transportation options and partnerships. And lots of other possibilities. Fremont has always been on the cutting edge and is ready to work with the city to make it happen.” (Thanks Sue for the link!)

The city’s deadline for feedback is October 3rd. More details here.

After the Seattle DOT conducted a couple of parking studies in Fremont, they confirmed what many of us already know - there’s never any parking in Fremont. The two studies, done in 2005 and 2008, found that the majority of blocks were more than 75% full most of the day. Now the city wants to change the parking structure in the neighborhood. They’re proposing 2-hour paid parking in the core of the business district, 10-hour parking on the outskirts and residential parking zones. A map of the proposed changes is here. Whether you’re for the changes or against them, the city wants to hear from you by October 3. Call or email project manager Stephanie Parkins at (206) 684-8186 or stephanie.parkins@seattle.gov. (Thanks Theresa for the tip!)