Montgomery Parking-Fee Increase Unlikely

After Hundreds of Complaints, Leggett Urges Council to Repeal New Policy

Montgomery County is backing off a plan to raise parking rates in several communities after officials received hundreds of complaints that the increases could discourage nightlife and kill off small businesses, especially in sections of Silver Spring and Wheaton.

County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) told County Council members yesterday that they should scrap the plans, which would increase parking fees and lengthen the hours for paid parking in several parts of the county, including Bethesda and White Flint. The new fees and hours were to take effect July 1, but Leggett's administration delayed them when opposition arose.

Council member Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring) introduced a bill yesterday to repeal all the increases and immediately won support from at least three other members. A hearing on the bill is set for July 26, and a vote is likely by July 31.

Only two months ago, the council unanimously approved the plans, and Leggett signed them into law as part of an overall $2 billion county budget.

One of the goals of the new policy was to make county-run parking more uniform and to bring in as much as $700,000 annually to help offset the millions the county has spent in Silver Spring and Wheaton.

But business owners said the parking-rate increases could set back their progress.

"We are in the infancy of this revitalization," said Jackie Greenbaum, who owns Jackie's Restaurant in south Silver Spring near the D.C. line. "Silver Spring is not Bethesda. We don't have the affluence yet or the rock-solid business community. It would not take much in our view to knock it back five years."

The county's parking fees are, pardon the pun, all over the lot. Drivers pay at Wheaton's public surface lots on Saturdays, but not at Bethesda's. They pay for on-street parking in downtown Bethesda on Saturdays, but not in downtown Silver Spring. After 7 p.m. on weekdays, the only place that charges for on-street parking is Bethesda.

Under the new policy, parking at all nine public surface lots in Bethesda, which has been free on Saturdays, would be metered from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, including the popular lots near Barnes & Noble and the Capital Crescent Trail. Most of Bethesda's parking spaces -- more than 70 percent -- are in its eight public garages, which would remain free on weekends.

In Silver Spring and Wheaton, metered parking on the streets and in lots would be extended until 10 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays. In North Bethesda, near White Flint mall and the Metro stations, monthly and hourly parking rates would increase. Parking is free throughout the county on Sundays and holidays.

Greenbaum wrote a letter to the council complaining about the changes, which, despite a public hearing, seemed to sneak up on the public and the council members.

"This law assumes Silver Spring has already 'made it.' This is far from true. Many businesses . . . away from the town center are struggling and need the county's support," said the letter, which more than 500 people signed.