The gates will be removed from all three Sarasota City parking garages, which include the ones on Palm Avenue, State Street and St. Armands. There will also be a few different ways to pay.
“Parking rates will not change. They will stay exactly the same as they currently are today,” said Harvey. “What will change is how you pay. You will be able to utilize the same exact technology on the street, now will be inside of the garage. [For] example, we will have ParkMobile app that we have on the street. We will be bringing a new app, which is Passport, and for people who don’t want to utilize the app, text to pay or use the QR code, we will have an option that they can walk up to a pay station and use a physical credit card as well.”
The changes will take place on Tuesday, June 17, and you will have 15 minutes to pay. If you don’t pay within that timeframe, you’ll receive a parking citation.
Parking enforcement will also be extended to operate from 7:30 a.m. until each garage closes. The current hours of operation are:
• Palm Avenue Garage, located at 1289 North Palm Avenue – 7 a.m. to midnight Monday-Thursday and 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday-Saturday.
• State Street Garage, located at 1538 State Street – 7 a.m. to midnight Monday-Thursday and 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday-Saturday.
• St. Armands Garage, located at 57 North Adams Drive – 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 8 a.m. to midnight Friday-Saturday.
Also, the City of Sarasota plans to install cameras at the entrance and exit to monitor license plates.
