News Photo by Julie Riddle A sign advises drivers about parking hours in a parking lot at the intersection of North 3rd Avenue and River Street in Alpena on Sunday.

ALPENA — If the Alpena Downtown Development Authority and City of Alpena decide to implement paid parking in the downtown, many options for a parking system are available to them.

Members of the DDA attended a recent meeting where a vendor described what products are available, their cost, and the pros and cons of them.

In the downtown, there are more than 1,000 parking stalls and the DDA will formulate a plan on where paid parking will be, if they institute it at all.

In the slideshow presented to the DDA, there were meters that track the time vehicles that park in a single stall, and larger ones that monitor multiple parking spaces.

Some simply take cash or credit cards, while others are fully programmable and can utilize smartphone apps, run on solar power, and other options.

The cheapest of the meters are the single stall meters, but the DDA, or City, would have to purchase many of them, which comes with additional costs because more posts and signage would be needed. Having more meters would also require more maintenance and likely hiring an employee to empty the cash from them.

Anne Gentry, the DDA Executive Director, said the board will now begin the process of determining what type of paid-parking system would work best, be the most cost effective for the downtown and visitors of it, and come up with a cost and how to pay for the investment.

Gentry mentioned the DDA would likely need to take out a bond or a loan to pay for the upfront cost and then use the revenue from the meters to make the payments. She said she anticipates the debt would be paid off quickly.

“We got the information and now we got to start looking at what lots we want to meter, which streets make sense, would they be single-space or multi-space, what the timeline is, and what the fees would be.”

Gentry said the DDA will also consider leaving some lots and parking areas free, or use smart meters to set hours and days where charges are implemented or not.

The DDA has looked at paid-parking in other cities and what they do. She said that will continue.

Alpena had paid-parking until the 1970s and then the meters were removed. The issue of charging people to park in high-demand places has risen several times over the last handful of years, each time with some pushback from residents and business owners.

As the downtown grows, and more business open, and the amount of visitors increases, parking is expected to become more of an issue than it is today.

It is not unusual now for people to struggle to find a parking spot in a lot or curbside during the afternoon and dinner time hours.

Once a plan is formulated, it will make a recommendation to the Alpena Municipal Council, which has the final say.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.