Free or $50? Here’s everything that’s changing with parking in downtown Fresno

In February, the city took over operations for the entirety of downtown parking; the thousands of spaces, split between surface lots, garages and street meters.

It’s the most recent piece of an almost-decade-long effort to improve the experience of finding (and paying) for parking in the city’s urban core.

The changeover hasn’t been without issue, especially as it relates to the handling of event parking. It’s drawn the ire of business owners and a policy update on how the city deals with parking meters.

Gridlock and price surges

Within weeks of its takeover, the city was tested on whether it could manage two large scale events happening on the same night.

It was “gridlock on O Street,” per theater critic Donald Munro, when “Beetlejuice the Musical” opened at the Saroyan Theatre on the same night the Valentine’s Day Super Love Jam happened at the adjacent Selland Arena. The city was working through kinks in its mobile app and kiosk system and, according to Munro, unprepared for the hundreds of concert and theater goers descending on the venues’ designated parking garage.

He missed the opening curtain because of the delay.

In April, business owners began raising concerns over special-event pricing at parking meters along Fulton Street. The Layover cancelled a Saturday night karaoke after it discovered meters in the area were set at $30 due to a concert at Chukchansi Park. “We can not ask for our customers to pay that,” the nightclub/music lounge wrote in a social media post.

Business owners took note again, when meters along Fulton Street were posted as $25 for Saturday night’s Tequila Fest at Chukchansi Park.

“The city was in for another round of real frustration, on a problem long since identified,” Downtown Fresno Partnership CEO Elliot Blach told The Bee on Monday. For months, the city had been trying to create a promo-code work around for businesses. With Tequila approaching, the partnership pushed for, and quickly received, a policy update that would set meters at $2 an hour for two hours, before any special-event rate kicks in.

“If you’re going to the event, we want the lots to be the best option. If you’re not going to the event, we want meters to be available.”

That’s how event parking is handled around Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, Balch said.

How does special event parking work in downtown Fresno?

Changes aside, event parking can cause some confusion downtown.

That’s because (and this is worth noting) downtown parking, both at meters and in the lots and garages, is mostly free.

There is no charge for parking after 6 p.m. on weekdays and all weekend.

The huge caveat of course, are these special events, which the city said it designates based on “anticipated attendance volumes, traffic impacts, and proximity to key activity centers.”

Typically, the events are attached to one of downtown’s core venues: Chukchansi Park, Selland Arena/Fresno Convention Center and Warnors Theatre.

But that’s not always the case. Events can be designated any time the “projected demand necessitates operational adjustments,” the city said. See Thursday’s Fulton Street Hop, for example.

During events, parking rates can range wildly; anyway from $7-$50, according to the city, “based on anticipated demand, with the goal of improving parking availability and reducing congestion.” That pricing is applied to all meters, garages and lots within a designated “event zone.”

Those also vary by event and venue.

The zone for Chukchansi Stadium, for example, runs from H to L streets between Ventura Avenue and Tuolumne Streets, in an area that includes The Layover, the Crest Theatre, Libelula and other downtown businesses. The rates inside that zone fluctuate: from free on a standard weekend with no events, to $7 during Grizzlies games and up, or $25 or more nights when there are concerts or international soccer games at the stadium.

The city’s Parking Division currently shares updates via social media in coordination with event venues, but it can still be difficult for businesses to navigate when customers can’t get a clear sense of parking costs on any given night. As BB’s Gelateria posted in a comment online: “We’ve also seen our customers avoid the area if there is an event and parking goes through the roof.”

The changes the city implemented last week are an example of the quick work that can happen when the business owners speak up in a concerted voice, said Balch, with the Downtown Fresno Partnership. It’s not a complete solution, but a good step forward.

“We don’t want to harm small business. We don’t want to kill karaoke night.”