Great Falls' Independent News Source
The city’s development processes and requirements are often blasted as impediments to development, but much of the land use code was revised in 2005 as part of a major community effort after continued complaints about the overall appearance of the city. Now, the city is working to update Title 17, the land development code, as staff continues to revise the
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Roughly two dozen downtown business owners gathered at Electric City Coffee on Monday to learn about the city’s parking system and the proposed changes, including a meter rate hike. Jeff Patterson, of the city’s Parking Advisory Board, as well as Craig Raymond, city planning director, shared information about the program and answered questions from the group. Board recommends rate hike
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The city is offering free parking downtown again this year for the holidays. All metered parking will be free Dec. 15-25. But to ensure everyone has access to parking, the two-hour maximum time limit at meters will remain in effect. There are more than 1,000 metered spaces in the downtown district. “Providing free parking during the holiday season is one
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During their Dec. 4 work session, City Commissioners will discuss the latest proposal from the Parking Advisory Commission, which includes quadrupling meter rates on Central Avenue. The Electric has been covering parking issues since its launch and will use this as a landing page for all things parking so you can catch up on the maintenance needs, funding challenges and
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The city’s parking board voted Monday to recommend that the downtown meters be broken into zones and the rates be quadrupled, tripled and doubled. The Parking Advisory Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the city increase meter rates to $2 on Central Avenue, from the Civic Center to 7th Street; $1.50 on the blocks immediately off Central in that area
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Changes could be coming to the Great Falls downtown parking system. On Monday, the Parking Advisory Commission voted to recommend that the go into debt to make all repairs to the parking garages, including deferred general maintenance, new lighting, new security cameras and more. The action includes calculating the cost of the deferred maintenance and call for a percentage that
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City staff have been continuing their effort to update the municipal code. Up next, Title 10. That section of the city code pertains to vehicles and traffic and most of the updates proposed by staff are non-substantive but some are substantive changes. During the Aug. 21 work session, Assistant City Attorney Joe Cik walked City Commissioners through the proposed changes.
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When Mayor Bob Kelly took office in January 2016, he tasked the Parking Advisory with developing a roadmap to solutions. Since then, little has changed. The PAC has been working with the city’s parking contractor, SP+, to develop a strategic framework and financial plan. The City Commission approved a contract for that effort last summer and the PAC started their
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There’s a need for more parking spaces at Great Falls High School, officials say, and the school district is asking the city to consider allowing a portion of Kranz Park to be turned into a parking lot. On Tuesday, Superintendent Tammy Lacey told City Commissioners that Great Falls Public Schools is hoping to add about 100 spaces around GFHS as
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A variance for the off street parking requirements was approved for a proposed new Ace Hardware store on 10th Avenue South. The proposed new store is 23,100 square feet, which under city code, would require one parking space per 300 square feet or 77 parking spaces. The site at 3527 10th Ave. S. currently contains five parcels to the north
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