Business and employee representatives from The Acre neighborhood urged the council to address limited short‑term parking and the hardship caused by two‑hour limits for workers. Speakers described daily disruptions—employees moving cars during shifts, concerns about walking long distances after dark, and impacts on small food businesses that operate on concentrated lunch and dinner cycles.
Project representatives and business owners asked the city to consider employee parking passes, on‑street permit options, adjusted time limits (for example four‑hour limits), or use of nearby municipal lots during evening hours. Councilors raised similar ideas: revisiting a monthly employee pass, extending permit hours behind the library, permitting employees to park in specified city lots after 5 p.m., and tailoring rules by neighborhood. The manager said revising the parking ordinance will be complex because the city has layered rules from past decades; he pledged to come back in 4–6 weeks with a neighborhood‑by‑neighborhood approach and recommended that the administration be able to implement targeted changes with council approval.
Several councilors urged outreach and pilot programs, and one asked that any changes be clearly publicized. The motion to have the manager explore options and return with a proposal passed; no fee changes or permit program was enacted at the meeting.