College Station City Council hears proposal for paid street parking for upcoming summer events

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Two major events are coming to Kyle Field in June, the Mexico versus Brazil soccer game and the George Strait concert.

These are expected to draw large crowds, and Thursday night the College Station City Council heard a proposed pilot plan for paid street parking in the Historic Southside Neighborhood.

Residents there may have to pay for street parking on the days of those events, even if they’re not attending.

Street parking in the neighborhood is normally completely free, even during home football games at Kyle Field.

The proposed plan would charge $25 per car to park for this summer’s big events, even for residents who have no choice but to park on the street in front of their homes.

The pilot program would only apply to June 8 and June 15, the days of the events. The $25 charge would also apply to surface lots in areas such as College Station City Hall and Post Oak Mall.

For residents living in the Southside Neighborhood, they say it’s $50 they may not have.

One student who plans to stay over the summer said she can’t afford to attend the events and hopes the city considers the financial impact on neighborhood residents like her.

”I know for myself, I pay for everything, and so I think that would be unfair to the residents who live at all these houses and are college students, and might not even be able to attend,” Carrigan Berry said.

City officials say this plan will help with traffic and offset other costs associated with the events.

“The city has quite a bit of investment during special events, in traffic management and extra security details and enforcement of different requirements in the community,” Director of Community Services Debbie Eller said.

The city wants to use a QR code system similar to what is used in the Northgate District to collect the fees.

Eller said they’re planning an educational campaign in the neighborhood before the program starts, but will ticket cars parked without payment.

“We just want to make sure that there are options for people to safely park, safely move around the community, and then get to the fun events,” Eller said.

Not everyone on the council is on board with the idea.

Councilwoman Linda Harvell is a Southside resident. She said it’s unfair to start asking for paid parking now.

“I just don’t think that residents and our students and our visitors should be penalized because people are going over to Kyle Field,” Harvell said.

Residents nearby agree.

“I think it would be sensitive to the people making the final decisions if they talk to the residents themselves,” Berry said.

Paid parking would be enforced by the city’s code enforcement team, but Eller said they’re looking into options to exempt residents from paying if they decide to keep the program around for game days.