Leesburg Council To Appoint New Parking Task Force

The Leesburg Town Council this week kicked off a new round of debate over its parking policies, proposing additions to the towns comprehensive parking plan and establishing a new task force to study the issue.

Once the task force is established, likely at a meeting in two weeks, it will have 90 days to provide an initial report to council.

Councilwoman Kelly Burk led the effort to set a deadline for the task force, saying the council requires more information but needs it soon.

In addition to forming a task force, the council initiated policy changes to charge a fee of $1 per hour in the town parking garage and to increase the charge for on-street metered parking to $1.50 per hour.

Councilwoman Suzanne Fox said that while parking has been a concern for several years, its important to have a time limit for the task force. Council members would like more information regarding the cost of moving to an electronic kiosk parking payment system, the use of parking spaces at specific times of the day, and the parking capacity in the downtown area, among other things.

Ninety days is not that difficult to accomplish, Town Manager Kaj Dentler said.

Councilman Tom Dunn said the task force should have been discussed in more detail during Mondays council work session. He also said creating the task force would just be extending the debate the council has been dealing with for the past six to eight years.

The council voted unanimously to impose the 90-day deadline on the task force, however, Councilman Dave Butler voted against the changes to the towns parking policies. He said during Monday nights meeting that concerns about parking shortages downtown are more perception than reality.

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Leesburg Council To Appoint New Parking Task Force