Students who own cars and live in downtown Madison have probably experienced hassles with parking. Most parking places are either hard to find or require an expensive monthly fee. City officials say this is because there simply isn’t enough parking downtown.
Every year, Madison’s Transportation Department issues more residential parking permits than there are spaces available.
Due to the high density of cars on the isthmus, city officials who dole out building permits have made it a practice to require many of those seeking permits to pledge to place the names of residents living in their buildings on a list of people the city forbids from purchasing parking permits.
Brad Murphy, a Department of Planning and Development member, reasoned that the department approved these newer buildings with a warning to the property owner that no street parking would be available for the buildings’ residents.
“When new projects have 100 dwelling units and only provide 10 parking spaces, we try not to make the parking situation worse with new competition for the same limited number of spaces,” Murphy said.
One such property is Steve Brown Apartments, for whom residents, such as those at their 244 W. Gilman St. apartments above Verizon Wireless, are not eligible for residential parking permits. Other buildings whose residents are unable to obtain residential parking permits include tenants of the Palisade Apartments, the Embassy and La Ciel.
The Madison Parking Utility website, (www.ci.madison.wi.us/parking/parkinfo.html), lists all other addresses ineligible for parking permits.
Alternatives for those who own cars and live in one of these buildings are few. They must either park in privately owned lots or in lots provided by their building.
Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the city is trying to force landlords to incorporate sufficient parking into their property. However, underground parking is expensive, and landlords are not required to provide parking for their residents.
Spots in private lots or in underground heated lots provided by the building can run into hundreds of dollars per spot for a single month.
A Steve Brown resident of 244 W. Gilman, who wished to remain anonymous, is ineligible for a residential parking permit and said parking through Steve Brown is too expensive.
“Parking is $105 per month above ground and $195 per month underground,” she said. “And we have to sign 12-month parking contracts.”
Tim Wadlington, supervisor of Steve Brown Apartments, said parking is not a needed service for college residents.
“Parking is expensive, but it’s a business,” Wadlington said.
He said all of 244 W. Gilman St.’s 10 underground spaces are filled, with above-ground parking available one block away.
Chris Myers, resident manager of Palisade Apartments, said 48-50 spaces are available underground for one-year leases at $140 per month. Spaces are available to anyone.
“The parking problem has much to do with the geography, high density and increasingly valuable land downtown,” Verveer said. “This has been an issue for years.”
John Villarreal, Madison’s parking technical aide, said the permits are available to all eligible students, but do not guarantee a parking spot.
“Depending on the area, we sell two and a half to four permits per space,” Villarreal said.
He said that if the Transportation Department limited the number of permits sold, the paperwork would be impossible because many students don’t park their cars in Madison year-round to fill all available spaces.
“It wouldn’t be fair to everyone if we limited parking to a certain number of people,” Villarreal said.
Residential Parking Permits are $21 per year and allow students to park on most campus-area city streets within the permit’s parking zone, including streets with “two-hour parking only” signs.
Verveer said discussion for two new ramps is underway for the mid-State St. and West Washington Ave. corridor areas to ease the parking congestion. He said if the ramps are approved, they would be available to commuters and students downtown.
