Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

December 15, 2020

Lazowski, Shelbourne voice opposition to proposed Hartford parking-lot fee hike

HBJ File Photo LAZ Parking CEO Alan Lazowski.
By Sean Teehan


Hartford's City Council Monday night punted on a measure that would significantly hike fees on downtown parking-lot operators after major downtown investors including Alan Lazowksi and Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC came out against the measure.

At a meeting Monday night City Councilors voted to send back to the Planning, Economic Development and Housing Committee a proposed ordinance that would have increased the biennial permit fees the city charges downtown parking-lot operators from a maximum of $1,000 per parking lot to as much as $28,900 or more, depending on the number of spaces in a particular lot.

The new higher fees would then double in 2025, and double again in 2030.

The move, which wouldn't apply to residential parking lots, aims to raise new revenue for a city that was on the brink of bankruptcy just a few years ago. But it also has a long-term goal of making it less financially appealing to operate parking lots downtown, hoping that spurs developers to turn some empty lots into new apartment, office, retail or other types of buildings that add to Hartford’s vibrancy and grand list.

In a Tuesday morning interview, Lazowski, who owns and runs LAZ Parking and recently purchased downtown’s Gold Building, praised city councilors for sending the item back to committee before voting, saying that business owners downtown never got a chance to weigh in.

"We really didn't have an opportunity to sit before the committee and I think now everyone from the real estate community and the business community and parking community would look forward to doing that," Lazowski said.

Lazowski added that he'd love to see more development of surface parking lots -- and pointed to current projects like the heavily subsidized Downtown North mixed-use project in Hartford's North End -- but that economics are a major deterrent.

"The reality is you cannot build a commercial development on a surface lot in today's economy without subsidies," Lazowski said. "There's actually a demand for parking downtown, and it's an essential service, an infrastructure need."

During a public comment period at the beginning of Monday night's meeting, Lazowski was flanked by others in Downtown Hartford's business community, including representatives of Shelbourne and the Hartford Business Improvement District.

Shelbourne Director of Accounting Avi Jacobowitz told councilors the hike in parking lot fees are ill conceived, and don't take into account the real estate taxes paid by parking garage owners.

"Certainly, I don't think anybody on the council would advocate to knock down those garages -- which some of them are below buildings -- in order to start new developments," Jacobowitz said, as he asked the council to consult with downtown business owners before voting on the measure.

The proposal would update a 2002 ordinance that sets fees and upkeep requirements on commercial non-residential surface lots downtown. The original ordinance charged $500 biennially for lots with a capacity of between 16 and 30 vehicles; $750 for lots with up to 50 vehicles; and $1,000 for lots with more than 50 spaces. The original ordinance also includes landscaping requirements and does not apply to closed parking garages.

If passed, the updated ordinance would create 13 different permit fee structures based on lot size. For example, a lot with 16 to 30 motor vehicles would have to pay a biennial permit fee of $2,000, up from $500 today. Lots with more than 250 vehicles would have to pay $28,900 plus an additional $2,500 for every additional 20 vehicles (under that scheme a lot with 305 vehicles would have to pay a $36,400 biennial fee).

The proposal also expands the ordinance so it applies to parking garages. The fees would double in five years, and double again in a decade. Commercial parking lots outside of downtown would also see more modest permit fee increases.

The City Council's Planning, Economic Development and Housing Committee, which will now re-assess the motion, is next scheduled to meet on Jan. 6.
 

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

0 Comments

Order a PDF