BERLIN, Md. -- An urban planner and architect presented Berlin with suggestions on how the town could best grow. One of those suggestions was to implement paid parking.
Dhiru Thadani, who's given advice to small towns across the world, said paid parking could lead to an influx of money for Berlin's downtown. While it is all preliminary, paid parking could take the form of pay-for-parking lots or metered spots.
Thadani suggested all side streets within a five minute driver of Berlin's historic core have on-street parallel parking with meters. The town already has "unofficial" parallel spots on side-streets near downtown, but this suggestion would mean spots would be clearly marked.
"What he proposed was the dollars we raised through paid parking would stay in the downtown and help for improvements there," said Steve Green.
Green, a Berlin Councilmember, said as of right now, there has not been a notion on whether or not the mayor and council will decide to move forward with this idea. Before it gets to that level though, the planning commission will take the suggestions from Thadani and consider implementing them into their comprehensive plan for the towns future.
Green expects parking to be a part of those plans.
"Parking clearly would be one of those things, because you talk to anyone in Berlin, they will tell you there is a parking problem, there is a shortage," said Green.
However, Ron Cascio, a member of Berlin's Planning Commission, sees Berlin's parking situation in a different light.
"I don’t think we have a parking problem, I think we have a walking problem, so I don’t think it’s a big deal," said Cascio.
Cascio said if people were willing to walk a bit farther to get to downtown, the parking lots would be less congested. So, he does not think parking in general will be a big focus as the planning commission sets their comprehensive plan.
"Not on the table at the moment, we’re just about to start revisiting the comp plan, that will be a part of it, I'm sure we’ll get some public input but it’s surely not going to be a focus," said Cascio.
Business owners in Berlin do view the current parking situation as an issue. Larnet St. Amant, manager at Bruder Hill in Berlin, said a reason for the congestion is employees parking in the free lots.
"A lot of the parking is taken up by people who work here, and it’s sad because I see my customers running around trying to find a spot which has been taken up by somebody who's been there all day," said St. Amant.
St. Amant said she does understand employees wanting to park close for an easy walk to work, but suggested parking behind a nearby church, which often has an open lot, to leave spaces for potential customers.
As far as a solution for any parking problems? St. Amant said paid parking is not the answer.
"I do not think paid parking is the solution," said St. Amant.
Shelly Bruder, owner of Bruder Hill, agreed paid parking would not be the best route for the town.
"My thoughts are no, paid parking I don’t believe would be a good idea for Berlin, Maryland," said Bruder. "People are really used to coming here and being able to park for free, it would really shake things up."
Bruder would be more in favor of adding parallel parking spots, but does not want them to have meters.
"If they did have areas where they had them marked, I think that would be amazing, amazing," said Bruder.
Bruder also suggested shuttles that could pick people up from side streets and bring them into downtown.
Now, paid parking in Berlin is far from a done deal. It will not be coming anytime soon, if at all. The planning commission still has lots of work to do before any proposals are brought before the mayor and council.