Paid parking signs pop up unexpectedly in downtown Ogden
OGDEN, Utah () — Visitors to downtown Ogden on Tuesday morning were met with a surprise: At least a dozen new paid parking signs greeted drivers at one of the most popular parking lots. It was no April Fool's joke.
Electric Alley runs parallel to historic 25th Street and offers some of the best parking spots for those visiting the businesses downtown. Under new private ownership, some of the parking will become paid parking. However, the and other businesses are working to keep as much of it open and free to the public as possible.
'Bad,' Crystal Stultz told ABC4.com, referring to the parking situation downtown. 'Just bad. We've always had to do loops to find parking.' Except for the lack of parking, she and Tiffanie Bowcutt enjoy visiting 25th Street and the shops that call the area home. 'We love coming to Ogden to recreate,' emphasized Bowcutt.
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'It's always been a hunt [for parking] but if you but if it's paid parking, you're going to be hunting for the lowest price for the amount of time you're here,' Stultz said just minutes after the two women paid for a parking spot in a lot long known for being free to the public.
'You better hope you don't go over that time,' added Bowcut.
After making a few loops around the block, the two women decided to head over to the parking lot, surprised to find signs at the entrance asking them to prepay before entry.
Bowcut stated, 'If we're getting mixed signals, 'Oh it's free public, but now all of a sudden, it's paid,' that's going to be really confusing for the locals.'
They weren't alone in the confusion.
'Shocked, yeah. We weren't planning on this,' Blake Hirschi, Operations Director for Slackwater, told ABC4. 'We weren't informed.'
Slackwater is one of the businesses that relies on the parking lot to draw in customers. Hirschi explained that the restaurant has parking spots that belong just to the business and then has some that it shares with the hotel next door. While the hotel is the only business mentioned on most of the paid parking signs, a handful list both the hotel and Slackwater. Something Hirschi said the restaurant had no part in doing.
'We love our Ogden community,' he said. 'We're grateful to serve them every day. I really hope that we didn't have any say of anything to do we this. Our name is on the signs. I don't know if they can even legally do that.'
The topic of paid parking is one that has long worried Hirschi and Slackwater. He added: 'Our neighbors over here have mentioned paid parking and the parking issues they've been going through, and I've always counseled them that it would be received poorly by the community. I think for us, especially with our guests, assuming that we're involved is going to have a negative impact.'
As far as the near future, Hirschi told ABC4.com that he hopes the signs will be removed until they come up with a better solution.
Ogden City also owns part of the lot. 'There was a little bit of confusion about what stalls here are paid and what stalls continue to be free,' stated Mike McBride with city communications. He explained that a new hotel ownership group essentially had the signs put up overnight without notifying the city beforehand.
'They're going to take these signs down for now,' McBride said. The signs don't clarify where the public can and cannot park. After working with the company's contracted towing company, they came up with a solution. For now, the signs will be taken down, then the spots owned by the hotel will be clearly marked and numbered, there will be a short educational period to allow people to learn about the new paid parking, and finally, the signs will go back up after April.
Tuesday morning's confusion, McBride said, highlights one of the city's needs as the downtown area grows and develops. He explained: 'We are currently working with stakeholder groups to talk about managed parking in the downtown area, specifically.'
'What that requires is collaboration with business owners, like the hotel and surrounding businesses to make sure that we engage in a managed parking system that benefits business owners, employees, patrons, and our visitor economy. We really want this to be a system that benefits all those folks.'
There are also some plans in place to increase public parking. One of those is a parking garage (part of the WonderBlock development project). It is located next to the 2nd District Court downtown. It is expected to be finished in the fall and add 800 parking spaces.
McBride also told ABC4.com that in working with the towing company that is contracted to take care of the hotel's parking lot, people who paid for parking before the signs were removed can be reimbursed.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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