Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


The City of Howell is working to address issues with parking around the downtown area.

City staff and the Police Department has been working on ordinance updates to try to find something that can work for residents, businesses, and visitors. It was stated during Monday night’s Council meeting that the City is trying to make changes that will simplify things, and make parking clearer and more concise.

Mayor Nikolas Hertrich told WHMI a few meetings ago they had members of the local community, residents, business owners, and downtown building owners who were being ticketed for parking not according to the current rules. He said since then, staff and the police department have been looking into how to improve the situation.

Hertrich said there will be some lots that can be parked at for 48-hours continuously, and they’ll be looking at removing some restrictions and updating rules. He said they’ll also be redoing lot numbers and improving signage to make it big and bold so people are aware of it, and then also do a better job of educating both the public and business owners.

Hertrich said they’re exploring maybe not using numbers for lots anymore but something else like a name or a color to help to people better remember where they parked with names instead of numbers. He noted there’s no order to the lot numbers, and they’re also missing a #6.

Hertrich said hopefully this will be an opportunity to let the community know they were heard and they are taking their concerns seriously; and they come up with some sort of solution that works for as many people as they can
Updates are expected to be presented to City Council at this coming Monday night’s meeting. It was moved up a week due to the Memorial Day holiday.

A link to the current parking lot map is provided.

Photo: Google Street View