Public Works provided recommendations to the City Council to modify the residential permit parking program. These recommendations focused on making residential permit parking easier to use for permit holders and non-permit users, creating more consistency across all permit parking areas, and helping to make enforcement easier. The recommendations required administrative, ordinance, and resolution changes.

Resolution Changes (Passed August, 2018)

  • Changed permit fees starting with 2019/2020 renewal season
    • Vehicle permits will be $25
    • Visitor permits will be $25
    • Hang tags will be $3 
    • A fee of $25 will be charged to replace lost, damaged, or stolen permits
    • A fee of $10 will be charged to replace permits for new vehicles
    • Churches and nonprofits within residential permit parking areas will be able to purchase visitor placards for $5 each
  • Created a master resolution to encompass all existing permit parking areas to clarify the language and create consistency in formatting.
  • Standardized the permit types—resident vehicle permits are stickers and visitor permits are placards—and the number of permits per household—3 vehicle permits and 2 visitor permits per household in all permit areas. (2 visitor permits for nonresident owners)
  • Made specific changes to some permit parking areas to create consistency of time restrictions across the whole area, to the extent possible, to make use and enforcement easier.
  • Merged areas 16 and 17 to make use and enforcement easier. 

Ordinance Changes (Passed August 2018)

  • Revised the City Code to allow more flexibility for residents, who use a car that is not owned by them as their primary vehicle.
  • Modified the process requirements for changes initiated by the traffic engineer to allow greater flexibility in making minor adjustments.
  • Clarified language within the City Code to avoid ambiguity or confusion.

Administrative Changes (Working on Implementation)

  • Will allow renewals to be done online by creating a database for permit parking through the current AMANDA database.
  • Will update and simplify the residential permit parking signs so that they are easier to understand.
  • Ongoing work with police to make enforcement easier.

Public Works based these recommendations on:

Why was a study done?

The Residential Permit Program was established in the early 1980s and has never had an extensive review.  There was mutual interest between city staff and City Council Offices to make some changes to improve the management of on-street parking, better users’ experiences, streamline the program, and explore the use of new technology, specifically the use of the City’s AMANDA database and License Plate Recognition (LPR) to easily verify if vehicles are part of a permit parking area.

The City Council directed Public Works to conduct a citywide review of its Residential Permit Parking Program to do the following:

  • Research best practices from other cities, comparable in size
  • Review policy and pricing of all permit types including inconsistencies in the number of permits allowed in each area
  • Review misuse of permits
  • Provide guidance for city to convert to online system for permit renewals
  • Provide guidance on how Police can provide better enforcement
  • Provide guidelines for when to establish new permit areas
  • Provide performance measures to evaluate existing areas
  • Address inconsistent parking regulations between permit areas and within areas

SRF Consulting Group, Inc. completed the Saint Paul Residential Parking Permit Review. Note that not all recommendations proposed in this study were implemented by the City.

Last Edited: February 3, 2021