West Hawaii residents urge crackdown on ‘predatory’ parking pricing

West Hawaii residents are pleading for Hawaii County to intervene against extreme parking prices in Kailua-Kona.

A group of business owners and residents appealed to the Council’s Communications, Reporting and Oversight Committee on Tuesday and urged action against “predatory paid parking providers,” who have dominated much of the city’s available parking spaces. Kailua Village for the past two years.

Parking lots that were free to use two years ago now have parking rates of up to $25 an hour, said Maria Brosnan-Faltas, who spoke Tuesday on behalf of the Paid Parking Committee. Kona Parking Lot.

In particular, Brosnan-Faltas highlighted the Parklinq company, a Honolulu business that has purchased lots throughout the village of Kailua. According to Parklinq’s website, a space at Kona Inn Shopping Village could cost $17.50 per hour on a Tuesday afternoon.

“We’re hearing people increasingly say, ‘We just don’t go downtown anymore,'” Brosnan-Faltas said, noting that some of the city’s parking fees exceed residents’ average hourly wages.

As parking becomes less affordable for users, local businesses are also suffering. Fix Paid parking committee member Chris Freed said some businesses reported a 20% to 40% decline in revenue over the past two years.

Freed said he and his wife, who own FreedForm Hawaii, opened a second store location for their woodworking business on Alii Drive, assuming the popular tourist destination would attract steady customers. Instead, he said, “No one comes in.”

“I hear all the time, in my other store, where people actually go, from people who say they’ve been coming to the Big Island for 30 years, but they’re never coming back,” Freed said, “because it costs more to park the car than all the food they drove to get.”

Brosnan-Faltas called the issue “an existential threat” to the Big Island’s economy, sharing several negative online reviews of parking prices for Kailua-Kona and the city as a whole.

One review, purportedly by a Columbus, Ohio, resident named Cathryn C., claimed that a $13-an-hour parking rate skyrocketed to more than $58 after she arrived “less than 15 minutes late” to return to your car after hours. above, although he added that he was able to reduce the price to just $18.

“If paid parking stays, I predict the death of the downtown shopping area,” wrote another reviewer, a resident of Gilbert, Arizona, named Lawrence B., in 2023. “I saw several tourists driving by, reading the (( parking paid) sign, talk to each other and leave again.”

Freed mentioned that he and his wife have to park far from their store because they can’t afford the monthly parking budget needed to park closer.

“Do any of you have a ‘monthly parking budget’?” He asked council members, and other attendees scoff at the concept.

Freed added that the most expensive parking spaces invariably appear to be handicapped spaces, which he assumed is probably illegal, and Deputy County Managing Director Merrick Nishimoto confirmed at the meeting that it is.

Paid Parking Committee member Bruce Prunk said the problem is not limited to Kailua-Kona or even West Hawaii. Already, he said, companies that buy parking spaces are creeping to Waikoloa, and if they continue to profit, they will surely head to Hilo.

“It’s clear that paid parking is big business, and it’s unregulated,” Prunk said.

Brosnan-Faltas and Freed urged the council to pass an ordinance to control the situation, such as setting a cap on parking fees, offering a Kamaaina parking pass and more.

For its part, the council committee shared citizens’ concerns and agreed to investigate possible solutions for a future bill.

Public Works Director Jeff Darrow also acknowledged the growing problem at the meeting and said DPW “would like to be a part of solving it,” whatever form it takes.