Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Parking enforcement is starting back up in downtown Howell – meaning vehicles that exceed allowed times will be ticketed.

The City has hired a new code enforcement officer, who will also be enforcing parking downtown. The City has also been cracking down on speeding.

Council met Monday night and City Manager Erv Suida reported that they now have new software and hardware to enforce parking, and training was completed, so enforcement efforts will be starting up this week. He emphasized that the enforcement is nothing new but was kind of put on hold due to a court ruling.

Suida noted they will not be doing anything above and beyond - just enforcing the parking ordinance on the books.

Mayor Bob Ellis told WHMI people often complain about not having enough parking downtown, which is largely a problem because people exceed the amount of time allowed. He noted it’s only two-hour parking but some people tie up parking spaces all day – meaning customers can’t find a place to park that’s right outside of a business - although the City does have parking within a block.

In the past, Ellis says police officers would mark tires with chalk so they could tell if cars had moved. If they exceeded the two hours, then a ticket would be issued. Ellis says the Michigan Supreme Court has since issued a ruling against that practice - making it difficult to determine if a vehicle is parked longer than the limit.

Ellis says there’s now new software that takes a photo of tires and from his understanding, the position of the valve stem is recorded and then compared to a future picture. He said it’s essentially an electronic way of chalking tires.

Now with that technology available, Ellis says they’ll be able to enforce the two-hour limit and turn over parking spaces quicker, making more parking available for customers of downtown businesses and it easier to determine if someone has overstayed their limit.

Tickets will be issued for those who exceed the two-hour limit.

City staff has also been out educating businesses and employees about the change and distributed informational parking flyers. It was relayed during the meeting that the response was a mixed bag with half in favor and half not, which has historically been the case.