Two years later, Old Colorado City businesses speak on paid parking impact ahead of city’s final plan

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - It’s been a little more than two years since visitors in Old Colorado City began paying to park in what had previously been free lots. As Colorado Springs officials prepare to unveil the final draft of a new parking plan for the area, businesses are speaking to 11 News about the impact paid parking has had on them.

In March of 2023, the city announced that they would be taking over the free lots in Old Colorado City and converting them to paid lots, asking for a little more than a dollar an hour from visitors.

“Those lots were in desperate need of repair, actually, those lots needed to be repaved, they needed some improvements to the infrastructure,” Richard Mulledy explained.

As the city’s public works director, he has been overseeing the development of a new parking plan that would take about five years to implement. In doing so, he said he’s been looking at what has been working for the city, as well as what residents say they want to see.

According to a city study, when asked about what improvements polled residents wanted to see in Old Colorado City, the top two proposed improvements were adding protected bike lanes and increasing the amount of free parking.

“I will say, I think everyone was disappointed to see that Old Colorado City had gone that route,” said Jo Martin, an employee in a business in Old Colorado City. “It does make it like a little more challenging for people to just come and shop.”

Martin said she would like to see paid parking done away with entirely, citing her customers’ frustrations, as well as her own.

It’s a sentiment echoed by Zach Ray, the creative director for Eclectic CO.

“It has created a little bit of a hang-up as far as getting our customers in and out in a way that kind of respects their wallet and our time,” Ray said. “I would definitely say that a majority of all of us businesses have seen a decline in foot traffic coming through the shops.”

But Mulledy said the idea of paid parking is to do exactly the opposite; something he said the parking numbers over the past two years have supported.

“Parking has really actually been successful there in bringing people and having turnover,” Mulledy explained. “If you are a restaurant or you’re retail, the last thing you want are the parking spots right in front of your business, people sitting there for 12 hours a day. You want some turnover.”

He said they have seen that turnover, both in Old Colorado City and in the downtown area. Because of this, Mulledy said they have been able to repave lots in Old Colorado City and revitalize areas of downtown, such as Tejon.

As the city works on the final draft of its parking plan, Mulledy said paid parking isn’t likely to go anywhere; however, he said they are working on listening to public comment and looking at how the city’s parking rates compare to cities of similar size.

“We want to make sure we are at that middle or lower end,” he said. “That is a great rate, a dollar an hour, you can park all day long in that garage and it’s a maximum of $12.”

Kit Hutchinson, the owner of Little Heartshake in Old Colorado City, said they would like to see a complete overhaul of the roads in the area, catering to the poll that listed bike lanes and accessibility as a top priority for residents.

“I really hope they focus more on the pedestrian experience in this area and bikes and make it more accessible for everyone, it would be great to see some free parking come back,” Hutchinson said. “It would be great to see less traffic down Colorado Ave. and moving the cars more so down to [Highway] 24, right next door, and having this be more pedestrian-friendly and shopper-friendly and all the things we want to see business-wise.”

Mulledy said that sort of overhaul would require collaboration between multiple departments and would be a larger project focused specifically in Old Colorado City. He said this would be separate from this parking project.

In the meantime, though, Mulledy said the city is working on a plan that benefits local businesses while also keeping parking infrastructure in mind to continue supporting the city the best they can.

You can see the latest draft of their plan before the final draft is revealed here.

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