Bethesda parking to cost more, add Saturdays

Merchants worry the change could drive away business

The council expected the measure to raise $133,000 in revenues and bolster the Bethesda parking district, but some downtown merchants worried the change will hurt business.

‘‘It’s not about the money. It is about the message it’s sending to the visitors to Bethesda,” said Ginanne M. Italiano, president of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber opposed additional parking fees in the district and worried shoppers will be unaware of the new enforcement hours — until they receive parking tickets.

The measure was based on ‘‘finding that mix between valuing parking and making sure that we don’t harm our business community,” said Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac.

Berliner said the council wanted to regularize the county’s parking districts, where hours vary. The measure also changed the schedule in Silver Spring, Wheaton, Montgomery Hills and North Bethesda. Street and lot parking in the North Bethesda Transportation Management District will be charged from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

‘‘I’m not going to pretend that the business community has uniformly embraced that,” Berliner said. But metered parking could actually bolster Bethesda business by increasing turnover in parking spaces, he said.

The new parking fee and hours go into effect July 1. But officials expected a delay while the county’s Department of Public Works and Transportation installs signs and changes parking meters.

‘‘What we’ve been told is Sept. 1, for sure,” said Glenn Orlin, deputy staff director for the Montgomery County Council.

Nine parking lots and eight garages make up the Bethesda parking district. The district houses nearly 7,500 parking spaces, 22 percent of which will be charged after the new fee goes into effect.

Currently, about 11 percent of downtown Bethesda is paid parking. The new measure will cost about $45,000 per year to enforce, Orlin said, but remaining revenues of about $133,000 will mostly be funneled back into the Bethesda parking district to operate parking garages and lots. Some of the money will go to the county’s mass transit fund, Orlin said.

‘‘The revenues from the parking lot district were fine. We don’t need additional revenues,” said Patrick O’Neil, the chamber’s transportation and parking committee chairman.

Paid parking in downtown Bethesda

New enforcement hours for parking meters

On-street meters: Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Parking lot meters: Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Parking garage meters: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Metered parking now costs $0.50 to $0.75 per hour.