Earlier this month, the Downtown Parking Commission voted for additional metered parking spaces around The Square to be added to their revenue model proposal, a decision approved by the Board of Aldermen last week. 

During their regular meeting on May 7, the Board approved the Parking Commission’s recommendation of 118 new meters on streets surrounding the Square. The meters will be installed once the new parking garage is open this fall.  

The meters will cost $0.75 an hour instead of the $1.25 per hour rate charged by meters located on the Square.  

The commission recommended eight new areas for meters, with all but one area approved during last week’s meeting. The one area not approved included the parking spots surrounding Oxford-University United Methodist Church on South 10th Street and Tyler Avenue. Concern over putting meters on those parking spaces might cause people to park in the soon-to-be completed parking garage the church is building. 

A few aldermen wanted to table deciding on metering spaces around the church until further discussions with church officials, including OUUMC pastor Eddie Rester, could take place. 

“I spoke to (Rester) and he said he wasn’t opposed to the street parking meters but that he’d rather them not be metered,” alderman Mark Huelse said during the meeting.  

Areas that were approved by the Board for meters to be installed include: Monroe Avenue behind FNB Bank, 11th Street between Harrison and University Avenues, Jackson Avenue East between 13th and 14th Street and the current Department of Human Services lot at the intersection between 9th and Jackson Avenue.  

The Board also approved the purchase of the 118 meters, despite approving only seven of the eight areas to be metered. If the spaces surrounding OUUMC are not approved for meters, the commission and Board agreed the extra meters could be used as future replacements of current meters.