Astoria City Council Work Session on Downtown Parking District and Enforcement - February 18, 2026
Astoria City Council Work Session on Downtown Parking District and Enforcement - February 18, 2026
Note on date discrepancy: The agenda and minutes list the meeting as Tuesday, February 17, 2026, but the user-provided context states the meeting took place on February 18, 2026. This summary uses the provided date of February 18, 2026, as instructed, while acknowledging the discrepancy.
The Astoria City Council held a work session on February 18, 2026, to discuss the Astoria Downtown Parking District, parking code updates, enforcement modernization, and the broader parking management strategy. No formal actions were taken, but staff received specific direction on next steps.
Discussion Items
- Parking Code Updates: Assistant to the City Manager Ryan Quigley presented three areas of the municipal code (Sections 6.350–6.370) needing updates: (1) clarifying definitions and removing the term "parking area"; (2) aligning posted signage with code (e.g., signs say 2-hour parking 9 a.m.–6 p.m. except Sundays/holidays, but code says 10 a.m.–4:30 p.m.) and updating outdated exemption language (e.g., meter bagging resolutions); (3) replacing Section 6.365 on data collection with modern practices to reduce privacy risks and administrative burden. Staff recommended an ordinance to update this code.
- Parking District Boundary: Council discussed expanding the current district boundary (last updated in 2004) to include areas near planned developments such as Copeland Commons, Dairy Gold, DHS, the film museum, and the old jail site. Councilor Adams and Councilor Davis supported expansion to include the commercial C-4 zone and the historic downtown overlay, noting potential impacts on adjacent residential areas. Staff will propose a revised map with several options for public engagement.
- Parking Enforcement Modernization: Police Chief Stacy Kelly reported that enforcement currently uses manual tire chalking, with citations increasing from 393 in 2024 to 964 in 2025. He proposed a license plate reader (LPR) system that automates duration tracking, electronic citation generation, and online payment/appeals. Estimated first-year cost is $60,000, with annual maintenance of $2,000–$4,000. The system could integrate with future paid parking modules. Finance Director Hilary Norton noted potential benefits for collections and customer service, but requested further review of impacts on in-person payments. Council expressed support for including this in the upcoming budget process.
- Parking Strategy Direction: Council engaged in an extended debate about the need for a comprehensive parking master plan versus proceeding with immediate actions. Councilor Davis argued that best practices are well known and advocated for a data-driven, demand-based approach and investment in enforcement technology, opposing a costly parking study. Councilor Adams reiterated the need for a master plan to guide decisions. Councilor Conklin and Mayor Fitzpatrick acknowledged both perspectives. Staff noted that technical analysis may still be needed for future demand from developments. The discussion clarified that council's vision includes a strategic master plan encompassing guiding principles, off-site parking, park-and-ride, and impacts on residential zones.
Key Outcomes
- Direction to staff:
- Pause advancement of the proposed Request for Proposals (RFP) for a parking study.
- Schedule additional council discussion focused on developing a comprehensive parking master plan (to be incorporated into a future work session after addressing homelessness).
- Proceed with updates to the parking code for clarity and consistency (ordinance to be brought back to council).
- Continue evaluating modernization of parking enforcement technology (license plate reader system) through the upcoming budget process.
- Return with additional information regarding potential parking district boundary adjustments and stakeholder engagement (staff to present a revised map with options).
- Next meeting: A regular meeting and work session will be held on February 23, 2026, to officially pause the RFP and discuss the homeless response, followed by agenda setting to schedule Councilor Davis's presentation on the parking strategic plan.
No formal votes were taken.
Meeting Transcript
Counselor Adams. Here. Counselor Conklin. Mayor Fitzpatrick. So Mr. S. Yes. So based on feedback and the conversations we had at the council level about what elements of a parking master plan that we can take on ourselves. We have a quick presentation that we would like to talk about the principal parts of what needed to be or should be looked at, and then have a discussion with the council about how much do you want to explore an aspect of it, but what we're also recommending that does need to be changed. Brian Quigley, the assistant to the city manager, has actually taken a leadership and a lead on this role even since uh December. And so Ryan's gonna walk you through about a seven-page slide set and then kind of go through the questions that you may have after that. Hi everyone. Um so yeah, like like uh Scott said, this will be just a this presentation or PowerPoint will be an overview regarding our current code regarding the historio downtown parking district, and then touch on the enforcement piece of it, which uh that will rope in Chief Kelly so if he can provide his expertise on that. So um so just high level overview. So, like I said, for this presentation, we're gonna go over the downtown parking district code language. Um, in particular, there's three points we're gonna we're gonna want to hide, we want to highlight for you all as opportunities to improve this portion of our code. Um traditional context within our city code, that's this is section 6.350 to 6.37 zero. Um, after that, we're gonna open up the conversation to you all regarding the uh story downtown parking district map boundary. That was something I was brought up for discussion um in the past at our uh council retreat. And then, like I said, we'll bring in uh Chief Kelly for the enforcement practices and next steps. So regarding our story of downtown parking district, uh, it was originally established in 1988. Um the the map, the one you see before you, the last update of that to that was in 2004. Um, for a context for the amount of parking spaces we're talking about, there's about approximately 1300 of them, about 559 of them have a time limit with 809 of them having no time limit of that area. That's those are numbers we got from our 2019 parking study. So, like I said, we're gonna I just want to highlight three sections of the code that we feel um are in need of an update. Uh the first part of that is in section 6.355. And uh for that, that's we're really looking at updating our definitions and uh clearing up some of the language regarding parking district versus parking area. So staff's recommendation is just an overall update to definitions and languages. Some of some of some of the definitions are can are dated or could just be made more concise, more readable, stuff like that. Um, and then in particular, we wanted to highlight the removal of the term or definition parking area from our code language. So um what the two images you see there, the one on the left is our downtown parking district. The one on the right is what our um parking district describes as the parking area. And for your reference, that's supposed to go um on the right or on it will be exchange street, um, going all the way over to 8th Street on the south. It was it, that is sorry, exchange street on the south, 8th Street um on the left, and then on the north, that is the Columbia River. That is when it talks about our parking area related to our parking district. That is that is what it's talking about. Um staff is recommending we just remove that language from this portion of the code. We feel that it would streamline the process, streamline this language that allows for um clear context understanding for anyone reading it, easier enforcement, and then just better alignment with general modern practice or modern parking management practices for cities of our size, as well as talking about downtown areas, they normally just either have a single definition when talking about a parking parking space. So the next uh recommendation for from staff is updating prohibited parking and exemptions language. Um, that's section 6.360 of our code. Um, so there are currently some inconsistencies between parking signage that you can see out there and our city code. Um Frankly put, the this I took this picture today. Our signage says that it's two hour parking from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. except on Sundays and holidays. Well, our code actually says from 10 a.m. to 430 p.m. You know, there are some inconsistencies that need to be um realigned to so that we are you know practicing what we're preaching within our code. Um we also are looking at wanting to update language around the permitting to meet current practices and processes. There's we cite within our code um resolutions that are no longer relevant to our current practices.
openpublica.com