DOWNTOWN PARKING, Then & Now

Last week, Channel 7 News did a story on downtown parking.  If you would have asked me just a few short years ago if I was worried about having enough parking in our downtown, I might have said something like, “I can only hope one day we have a parking problem.” Of course, what I mean is that having parking challenges would mean that we have grown enough to have traffic on our roads, pedestrians on our sidewalks, and cars in our parking spaces.  If you look at downtown parking with a very narrow view, you might think there are few spaces available to customers if all you look at are the on-street spaces.  The truth is, and yes, this is FACTUAL, there are well over 400 public spaces available, as well as hundreds more privately owned spaces,  in our downtown as it currently stands.  In fact, there are 233 spaces just in our parking deck alone.  To be fair, about half of the parking deck spaces are reserved for the residents who live in the attached apartment building, Auburn Square.  A drive through the parking deck on any given day will usually provide for at least 30, 40, or even 50 available spaces.  Since our downtown is essentially one block long and the parking deck is nearly in the middle of it, parking in the deck means that a patron or employee of a downtown business will not have to walk more than one-half block to get to their destination.  To the east of the parking deck is a public parking lot that nearly always has many available spaces.  Like the deck and on-street spaces, this surface lot as well as others are all free to use.   

There is no doubt that we are experiencing growing pains.  One of the biggest challenges is that some public parking is currently being used as a staging area for the construction of new buildings in our downtown.  Obviously, it’s impossible to construct a new building and not utilize the space around it.  The city cooperates with the developers who are investing in our downtown to provide them with the use of city-owned parking lots while their buildings are under construction.  This is most recently happening with the construction of The Brunswick (now complete and open) and The Webster, which has construction underway.  Additional parking demands have been created with the opening of Cantina El Dorado.  There is a direct correlation between the success of this new restaurant in our downtown and the shortage of parking spaces in that immediate area. 

The recent announcement of a two-hour parking restriction for on-street spaces is designed for one reason only; to assist merchants and help make more spaces available for their customers.  Employees of local merchants will no longer be able to utilize prime parking spaces as their parking.  But again, the public parking lots or the parking structure will always keep them within one block of their place of employment. 

Perhaps the most flattering part of the Channel 7 story was the opening remarks from the in-studio reporters.  They introduced Auburn Hills’ parking challenges along with names like Birmingham, Royal Oak, and Ferndale, three successfully bustling downtowns.  I guess that places us in good company.  Of course, it’s not our goal to have parking challenges.  The challenges that exist today are greater than they will be in the future.  Once construction of The Webster is complete in 2026, the city will immediately begin construction of an extension to the current parking deck.  The deck will extend west and include surface parking as well as two additional levels.  That will go a long way to providing parking spaces for all the buildings surrounding it. 

Gone are the days when you could shoot a cannon down Auburn Hills and not hit a thing. When I started working here in 2001, the new downtown road infrastructure had just been installed.  Just a couple of years prior to that, there was still the old, deteriorated streetscape with broken curbs, shabby sidewalks, potholes, and an overall streetscape reminiscent of a town that clearly had not made the area a focal point of investment.  And yes, I still hear from a few people who wish our downtown was like it used to be, but time marches on and change is certain.  Today, we stand proud of the downtown that has been created so far.  It has been nearly 25 years since the transformation began and the Downtown Auburn Hills we know today has become a community gathering spot as well as home to hundreds of new residents for whom we welcome with open arms. 

It’s no secret that the next couple of years will be filled with parking challenges.  City Council and City staff remain committed to making adjustments, just like the ones we’re making with the latest parking laws, to accommodate the downtown merchants and support their success.  There is no one perfect solution to the parking issues we are having right now.  But one thing I can say with certainty is that if you’re willing to walk a block or less, you will always have a place to park in downtown Auburn Hills. 

New parking restrictions go into effect tomorrow, Tuesday, August 27, 2024.  There will be a 30-day campaign of parking education and notices given.  However, repeat offenders within the first 30 days may still be ticketed.  Our growing downtown is a work in progress and the greatest success will only occur when we all work together. 

Thomas A. Tanghe, City Manager