Columbia Municipal Parking Utility

Downtown Columbia has a very vital and growing business district, and municipal Parking Utility is a critical component to that growth. There are five multi-level parking garages in downtown Columbia. The five facilities have a total of 1,882 parking spaces.

In addition to these off-street facilities, the city has 15 additional off-street surface lots in the downtown business district with 912 spaces available. These offer a total of 2,091 off-street parking spaces; 490 of those off-street spaces are metered parking. Additionally, the Utility maintains 1,697 meters on-street. Finally, scattered throughout the entire downtown business district, there are 69 disabled access parking spaces.

The Parking Utility maintains all of these facilities, surface lots, and street meters. This includes preventive maintenance, repairs as necessary, and daily housekeeping. The Utility also administers the sale of monthly or annual permits to a portion of those available parking spaces (link to Parking Permit Policies). The on-street and surface lot meters are all individual electronic or mechanical meters. The hourly spaces at Seventh and Walnut are currently a "ticket and attendant" system. A ticket is obtained and displayed upon entrance to the facility, then after the fact, payment is made to an attendant upon departure.

The remaining parking garages utilize pay machines that use a payment in advance concept. The payment machines are located at the facility exits. A patron is required to take note of their parking space as they park, then pay the machine for that space for the anticipated period that they will be parked there. Like any other metered system, if their stay in the downtown area becomes longer than anticipated, the patron needs to go back and increase their payment for the space, prior to their original payment's expiration.

The other arm of the Utility is Parking Enforcement. Parking is enforced in the downtown business district six (6) days a week Monday through Saturday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., except for approved municipal holidays. Enforcement's most frequent violation is for individuals parking "overtime" or in the same spot for more than that spot's allocated time. One example is parking for an hour in a 24-minute meter spot. Another similar violation is feeding the meters. An example of this would be seeing the enforcement officer coming and quickly making meter payments to multiple meters not knowing if they were beyond that meter's time limit or not.

The Parking Utility follows the intent of the ADA Parking Guidelines.  Disabled access parking is provided "free of charge" to persons displaying proper and valid handicap tags issued by the Missouri Department of Revenue. Valid handicap tags issued by the proper authorities of other states are also honored.

Leasing Parking Meter Covers

The Parking Utility leases meter hoods for the specific circumstances covered by Section 14-424, "Special Hoods" of the City Code of Ordinances. Generally, the circumstances must require location specific access and are most frequently used by contractors needing to access a specific location in front of the establishment they are remodeling, for example, for a dumpster or ready mix truck. The application for leasing a meter cover can be downloaded here: construction bags or permit for two days or less.

Parking Permit Policies

You may apply for a permit at City Hall, 701 East Broadway, 3rd floor. Payments must be either cash or checks (no credit cards, please). Contact 573-874-6368 for further information.

Parking rates are as follows:

Surface Lots	Uncovered Garages	Covered Garages	Reserved Garages
Monthly $40	Monthly $50	Monthly $60	Monthly $100
Quarterly $115	Quarterly $145	Quarterly $175	Quarterly $300
Yearly $440	Yearly $550	Yearly $660	Yearly $1200

 

1. You have the option to be billed monthly, quarterly or annually for your parking permit(s).
2. Parking permit fee payments are due, to the City of Columbia Finance Department, within 14 days of the billed invoice date. Parking tickets will be issued if payments have not been received in full. Non-payments will be turned over to a collection agency.
3. Parking permits will be canceled if payment has not been received in full within 21 days of the invoice date. Once a permit is canceled, it can be reissued to a customer if requested; however
   a) All delinquent permit amounts must be paid and the canceled tag must be returned before a new tag is issued.
   b) A parking space in a lot or garage will not be guaranteed if spaces are not available or a waiting list is in place.
4. Permits must be attached to vehicles in a location that can be easily viewed by Parking Enforcement officers. If there are any problems in displaying the permits within a viewable location contact the Parking Enforcement office at 573-874-7674.
5. NOTE: Permit holders parking in “hourly parking” areas is prohibited by Sec. 14-391. When parking permit area is full it is necessary to obtain other parking. You must notify the Parking Enforcement office at 573-874-7674 immediately with the location, license number and description of your vehicle.
6. There is a $5.00 fee for replacement of magnetic entry cards issued to holders of permits for the Plaza Garage.
7. Please lock your vehicle! The City of Columbia accepts no liability in the event of theft or vandalism; however it is requested that all occurrences be reported to the Columbia Polic Department's non-emergency number at (573)442-6131. If you see the theft in progress please call 911.
8. To cancel your parking permit you must return your tag.
   Permits may not be co-leased or otherwise transferred to individuals not originally making the lease agreement with the City of Columbia. A lessee may allow another individual the temporary use of a permit but this shall not exceed seven calendar days without written authorization from the Public Works Transportation Manager. Application for written authorization shall be made three days prior to such extended permit sharing use.

Disabled Access Spaces

View the Map or select the list for On Street, Disabled Access Parking Locations

 

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