Frustrated Avon residents, business owners offer advice to parking executives
Representatives of Hoffmann-implemented parking systems attend Town Council meeting, receive critiques
Chris Dillmann/Archivo Vail Daily
The Avon Town Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 23, had two special guests: Alberto Castellon, vice president of Five Star Valet, and John Conway, executive vice president and chief business development officer of Parking Revenue Recovery Services.
The two companies Castellon and Conway represent run the new paid parking system implemented on Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate properties this fall. Castellon and Conway clarified points of confusion and heard questions and comments from Town Council members and the public.
“We’ll work with (Avon), we want to make it better,” Castellon said.
Five Star Valet is owned under the Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate umbrella, while Parking Revenue Recovery Services is not.
Avon’s asks
After several residents and business owners of Avon shared challenges of the new parking system in Hoffmann-owned lots at the Jan. 11 council meeting, town staff and Avon’s new lawyer, Nina Williams, got to work coming up with a solution.
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Williams asked the representatives to put up bilingual signs in Spanish and English to match those Avon is implementing for its own paid parking program, which went into full effect on Monday, Jan. 22.
Williams also requested adding more signs with the QR code and text codes for registering cars through Text2Park, removing the large red signs, and removing old signage that reads “two-hour parking only.” While town code says signs must be posted every 70 feet, Williams said, she recommended that signs be posted every 30 to 40 feet to match the sign placement of the town.
Three hours free
While the program was initially intended to have two hours free, after listening to feedback from business owners, as of Jan. 1 of this year, parkers can receive three hours free if they register their cars through the parking website within 20 minutes of parking, Castellon said.
Parkers receive up to 120 minutes of free parking without registering but will receive a notice from Parking Revenue Recovery Services if they stay for a third hour without registering their car’s license plate on Text2Park.
Parkers must register upon entry if staying longer than two hours. “You can’t be on the property for two hours and then decide to register. You will get a notice,” Castellon said.
It is not possible to pay without using a phone, or without providing a license plate number or a credit or debit card number.
Virtual troubles
Several council members tested the Text2Park system on the spot during the council meeting. While some had no problems receiving an option for three hours of complimentary parking, others saw the parking website struggle.
Council member Chico Thuon said he frequently parks in Avon and has been using the system — with some hiccups. When Thuon and his son went to register their vehicles to park for dinner at Fiesta Jalisco, the website offered them different amounts of time. “I got 38 minutes, my son got an hour and 10 minutes, so it’s just a little glitchy,” Thuon said.
According to Castellon, “the parker selects how long they want to be on the property.” On the website, parkers can select the number of hours, or number of days, that they want to park.
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Thuon suggested making the website more user-friendly and posting signs reading “welcome,” with instructions on how to register parkers’ cars in the system.
“It’s so confusing after you get on the QR code. Even my kids, who are digital natives, were having difficulties,” Thuon said.
During the meeting, Thuon texted “Avon” to 25023, and said he received a message that his parking would expire in 15 minutes, despite not having parked in Avon that day.
Five Star Valet’s perspective
“The perception of the community seems to be that out of thin air, we created this parking program,” Castellon said.
When Hoffmann heard that the town of Avon was considering implementing paid parking, “we saw an opportunity to implement our expertise,” Castellon said. “We also saw the potential for our business owners in this area to suffer from non-business patrons’ parking abuse.”
Castellon referenced skiers and RVs as examples of non-business use of the lots, though he was unable to provide evidence of either instance at the meeting. “From what Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate communicated to us, it happened,” Castellon said.
Castellon said he first visited Avon in March. “In July, we held our first parking forums. There were multiple forums that we held, where we invited every single business owner of those lots. We also invited their tenants, their employees. We had, I thought, generally a pretty good turnout,” Castellon said.
Emails shared with the Vail Daily show two in-person parking forums held by Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate management and Five Star Valet, on Aug. 3 at 4 p.m., and Aug. 4 at noon.
Out of 43 tenants, 22 tenants or business owners attended at least one informational meeting, according to his notes, Castellon said.
“We met with (business owners and employees), face to face, individually, one by one, and before we launched the parking program, and as the parking program started to roll out, we gave them written material, flyers, not just for themselves, but for their customers,” Castellon said.
When parkers need help, the phone number they dial from the website and the signage is Castellon’s cell phone number, he said. “I get those phone calls directly, so yes, I’m not here physically a lot of the time, but I hear from this community a lot,” Castellon said.
Castellon said he set the parking rates, in part, after attending a September Avon Town Council meeting and hearing about the town’s proposed parking rates.
“I wanted to be higher than the town, I wanted to restrict more than the town, because what I did not want was illegal parkers who weren’t visiting the businesses on the property,” Castellon said.
Parking Revenue Recovery Services’ perspective
Conway shared information collected by Parking Revenue Recovery Services to indicate how many were served with notices.
Since the parking program began on Nov. 6, there have been 97,228 “compliant transactions,” where parkers either paid for parking, left the lot within 120 minutes of entering, or received validation, Conway said.
3,567 notices were issued for non-compliant parking, which made up about 2.8% of total transactions in the lots. The majority of the notices occurred between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., Conway said. Of the total notices issued, 587, or about 15%, were ultimately voided.
22% of notices were issued to addresses within a 50-mile radius of Avon, meaning the vast majority of notices likely went to tourists and visitors.
There is a reason for the high, $87 price tag on a notice, Conway said. Private parking collection agencies cannot issue low initial notices and raise them over time, like municipalities can.
“You have to give people the worst-case scenario,” Conway said.
Parkers can check if they have outstanding tickets by entering their license plate in the Parking Revenue Recovery Services payment portal.
‘Heartbreaking’ to the Avon community
The tourists are the ones most in need of prominent signage, said Mayor Amy Phillips. “Our guests are the lifeblood of our economy,” Phillips said.
“This is heartbreaking (for) our community, how much stress it has put on people, and how it hasn’t been done right,” said Council member Lindsay Hardy.
“Have you gotten any positive feedback from business owners?” asked Council member R.J. Andrade.
Castellon answered in the affirmative, prompting an outcry from business owners waiting to speak.
“When you say there’s 3,567 notices issued and 587 have been voided, that’s still 2,900 and some individuals — some people — that have gotten notices. Those are real people that don’t like coming to this town, and that stinks,” said Council member Rich Carroll. Carroll asked Castellon and Conway to communicate further with business owners and tenants “to make sure this works as smoothly as possible.”
Responding to a question from Hardy, Avon town manager Eric Heil clarified that the parking agencies do have a business license to charge for parking.
Business owners and residents speak out
“Our parking lot was never supposed to be a profit center for PRRS (Parking Revenue Recovery Services), or for Alberto at Five Star (Valet). We already are a profit center for Hoffmann (Commercial Real Estate),” said Patty Sommerville, owner of Nest Furnishings.
“Our job is not to talk to every person that comes into our store about what just changed this week with parking, what you’re supposed to do now, what you’re not supposed to do,” Sommerville said.
Sommerville asked Castellon and Conway to improve communication, mirror Avon’s parking rates, and reduce the price of the violation notice.
“Why not get rid of the $87? Why not have a $ 30-a-day charge?” Sommerville said.
Donna Lang, owner of Home Outfitters, said that while her interactions with Castellon had been positive, she didn’t think he had met with her one-on-one before paid parking began, as he claimed.
Lang said she has seen her business suffer since the program was implemented.
“I lost a huge client yesterday,” Lang said. A potential customer, who had just purchased a house arrived at her store without a phone, planning to buy furniture. When he learned he needed to use his phone to pay for parking, he left, unwilling to deal with the parking complications, Lang said.
Lang expressed frustration with the QR and text code process, saying one of her employees had received 18 notices despite registering in Five Star Valet’s system.
Brian Nolan, who owns restaurants in both Avon and Edwards, said he has seen customers coming to Edwards, and avoiding Avon.
Jenny Hetei has owned Portofino Jewelry for 25 years, with 10 years in Avon, said she is making plans to remove her business from Avon. “I’m out as of April. I’m done with my space,” Hetei said. “My big decision to being done is this; it has put me over the edge. Plus, Hoffmann raising my rent $1,800 more per month,” she said.
Joe Peplinski, owner of P. Furniture & Design, and Vail Lights, repeated concerns he raised at the last Town Council meeting that parking spots have no protections to ensure parkers are patronizing the businesses, while the two parking companies profit.
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“Hoffmann last week sent their senior property manager to talk to some of us, and what we were told is, Five Star (Valet) and (Parking Revenue Recovery Services) will not have to pay any of the common costs that we have to pay. They will not even pay for the electricity that they are using for their cameras. That goes on our common meter,” Peplinski said.
As he began to speak, Avon resident Tim McMahon was warned for his use of “bad language,” by Avon chief of police Greg Daly. Council member Andrade stood by McMahon while he spoke to ensure his language remained appropriate for television.
