By: K. Michelle Moran | Grosse Pointe Times | Published November 9, 2022
GROSSE POINTE CITY — To assist local businesses and encourage shoppers to patronize their neighborhood stores, weekend parking in The Village will once again be free this holiday season in off-street surface parking lots.
“For the past 11 years, the City has provided free parking … to encourage people to visit our businesses,” Main Street Grosse Pointe Executive Director Cindy Willcock said during an Oct. 17 Grosse Pointe City Council meeting.
Willcock noted that, since 2013, the Grosse Pointe Village Downtown Development Authority has split the cost of lost parking revenue with the City, something that now continues through Main Street Grosse Pointe.
For the City, the lost revenue is estimated at about $6,000 this year. Parking revenue goes into the City’s parking fund to pay for repairs and improvements to parking lots and the structure.
This year, free Village parking will be available Nov. 26 and 27, Dec. 3 and 4, Dec. 10 and 11, and Dec. 17 and 18. In addition, Willcock requested that free parking be extended to cover Friday, Nov. 25 — also known as Black Friday — which is the day of the annual Grosse Pointe Santa Claus Parade. To encourage paradegoers to stay in The Village before and after the parade, Willcock has planned a number of special events Nov. 25.
The Grosse Pointe City Council agreed with Willcock’s parking request, unanimously voting Oct. 17 to approve it.
As to how the City plans to spread the word about its free parking, Willcock said it will do so through local media, a banner at the entrance to The Village and other methods.
“We do have big signs that say free holiday parking,” City Councilman Donald Parthum Jr. said.
City Councilwoman Maureen Juip asked whether the City would be making any revisions to the parking app it uses — Passport Parking — to note that visitors don’t need to make parking payments on holiday weekends and the day after Thanksgiving.
“As we migrate more and more to the app, we should (look into that),” Juip said.
City Manager Peter Dame said he would explore the options and see if it was possible to make such a change to the app.
Free parking only applies to off-street surface parking lots, not the Village parking structure. Parking in the structure is always free on Sundays, or shoppers can get three hours of free structure parking with validation from Trader Joe’s or one hour of free parking with validation from Pet Supplies Plus Mondays through Saturdays.