Avon Town Council passes emergency ordinance aimed at controversial parking fees

The bungled execution of automated parking systems on private lots in Avon may be business-related, but the Town Council is taking it personally.

It’s part of a long-simmering debate over how to handle paid parking on private lots in Avon, and it reached a boiling point this week when Mayor Tamara Nottingham Underwood accused Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate of “abominable business practices” after people started reporting fees in areas with signs that advertise free parking.

As a result, the Town Council unanimously approved an emergency ordinance on Tuesday requiring all private lots to clearly state the maximum amount a person can be charged, and plans to go further with more regulations, as well.

It was an issue Town Manager Eric Heil said the town thought it had worked out with the real estate company months ago, but apparently is still unresolved.

“We did receive a number of complaints in the last couple weeks,” Heil said, “again expressing complaints about how the automated camera parking system works … again it seems to be from getting a fine amount without really realizing, that the signage is not clear, the process is not clear, people that come to frequent Avon businesses get a fine in the mail two to three weeks later, and it leaves a pretty negative sentiment.”

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One person who complained to Underwood said the alleged parking violation occurred in March “and received the $87 citation two days ago, in June,” Underwood said.

“It should be issued under your windshield wiper,” Underwood said. “This remote management, and sending citations weeks and months later through the mail, it’s egregious.”

Town Council members expressed their personal disappointment in Hoffmann after feeling they had negotiated with the company in good faith to put a stop to the parking-fee confusion months ago.

“I’m really upset about this,” said Council Member Rich Carroll. “I don’t understand the business model that says let’s hurt the people at my businesses, that rent from me, let’s drive that business away.”

Council Member Chico Thuon said the issue has risen to a level where he is now hearing about Avon’s parking problems while traveling outside of Eagle County.

“I heard it, of all places, at the Grand Canyon last week,” he said. “Where somebody will never come to this place ever again, period. I’ve heard it in Aspen, I’ve heard it in Steamboat, I’ve heard it in Denver and Colorado Springs.”

Michelle Geringer, the director of property management for Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate, responded by saying the paid parking was created as a result of the town enacting paid parking of its own.

“We have been hearing and listening and trying to revise,” she said. “We hear you, I will be happy to work with whoever is willing to work with us.”

Council Member Kevin Hyatt said what started as an effort to prevent skiers from taking up spots at businesses has gotten out of control.

“This all started out as a wintertime thing, but it’s a penalty to the businesses now, and a boon to the pocketbooks of the property owner,” Hyatt said. “Something needs to be done, I do agree, I’ve heard from all kinds of people all over the place that they do not want to come here, no matter what, and that is a horrible sentiment to be floating around about the ‘Heart of the Valley,’ and the town, and the place we love and call home.”

Town staff will present more options to the Town Council on July 28, including a potential disallowance of the use of automated parking systems in town and a possible ballot measure to levy taxes on parking revenue earned in town.