Brainerd Parking Commission Presents New Plan for Downtown

Brainerd recently went back to the drawing board on making changes to parking downtown.

Last December, there was a proposition from the Brainerd Parking Commission to start using parking meters in downtown Brainerd to help resolve any parking concerns. The City Council held an open meeting with a public comment period, to which the council received negative feedback.

On Wednesday, the Parking Commission presented a revised plan that did not include parking meters at all. The main change is that the parking rates for the downtown lots would be raised to increase the one-year net revenue to approximately $15,000.

The original plan was to have parking meters fund the Economic Development Authority. The Parking Commission still believes the EDA is the right partner.

Another major change that was proposed is to change on-street parking from two hours to three. Currently parking is two hours from 8 AM to 6 PM, but the proposal wants to change from 8 AM to 7 PM to make it easier to be enforced.