Avon residents ask town council for support in latest episode of paid parking controversy

Business owners and residents of Avon attended the Town Council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9, to air grievances against the parking management system implemented on Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate properties beginning in November.

Tenant businesses who lease from the Florida-based commercial real estate company expressed concern about the new system before it began, and the implementation of paid parking has been far from seamless.

The rules of the parking program require all customers to register their vehicle via QR code to stay longer than 15 minutes and pay for parking beyond two hours. Those who fail to register their vehicles, even if staying under two hours, and those who overstay their allotted paid time, receive a fine of $87 mailed to the address attached to their car’s license plate.

Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate utilizes two companies to enforce the parking: Five Star Valet, a Naples, Florida-based company owned by Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate collects customers’ payments. Customers who fail to pay, or pay too late, receive a mailed collections notice from Parking Revenue Recovery Services, Inc., an Aurora-based company that settled with the Colorado Attorney General’s office on Aug. 30 for efforts and action to illegally collect on parking fines.

Because Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate is a private company, the town hasn’t intervened in its privately held paid parking program, but Tuesday’s meeting raised questions for council members and counsel to examine.

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“This is killing the businesses at many of these local establishments that employ our own local, voting citizens. I know it’s private property, but the town can revoke things like this,” said Tim McMahon, an Avon resident who has been advocating against the new parking system.

“I’ve been trying to get people to file complaints with the Colorado AG’s (Attorney General) office, but it would go a long way if the town reached out to them,” McMahon said.

Many of those who spoke to the Town Council were business owners in Avon who lease their spaces from Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate.

“It is affecting our businesses,” said Jenny Hetei, owner of Portofino Jewelry. “I know our town is growing, I understand all that, but there has got to be a better way, and Hoffmann needs the pressure put on them. They do not care about the little guys, they don’t care about our town, they are all the way across the U.S.”

Patty Sommerville, owner of Nest Furnishings, said she believes customers are intimidated by the $87 fine, and asked the council to take action to protect local businesses.

“Three years from now, it’s going to be shown on our bottom line, and shown on your bottom line,” Somerville said.

Many speakers emphasized the ineffectiveness of the signage displayed in Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate lots to explain the paid parking system.

“There’s no call to action with the signs that are on the building,” Hetei said.

“My business is getting very affected by this,” said Susan Harding Bryant, who owns Looking Good Salon. “I’m not saying that they can’t come in and charge for parking, but the way they’ve done it is wrong. People do not see the signs.”

Many business owners, including Hetei and Harding Bryant, have taken it upon themselves to explain the parking system to their customers.

“All I’ve done in the last month and a half is talk about parking (with salon clients), instead of talking about what I’m going to be doing to you today because you’re going to be paying me a lot of money,” she said.

Avon resident Virginia Nicolai also advocated for more signage, including bilingual signs or signs in Spanish, as a bare minimum change.

“The parking situation is preying on the marginalized members of our community, who are the people who are going to come into the parking lot not knowing that there is this new change, not being able to read the sign, possibly not having a phone,” Nicolai said. “That is the part of our community that our economy is built upon: Our immigrant community.”

Joe Peplinski, owner of P Furniture and Design II and Vail Lights, Inc., suggested the signs put up by Hoffmann may violate Avon’s sign policy in their size or language.

Beyond signs, Peplinski voiced concern that a private company facilitating paid parking was something that should be required to go before the Town Council for approval, due to planning and zoning laws allocating parking spaces to businesses in town.

“When a private building is to be constructed within the town of Avon, the private developer must meet public, town of Avon parking regulations and requirements for that building to get approval for the project,” Peplinski said. “Regardless of whoever owns Five Star Valet or (Parking Revenue Recovery Services), they are independent, non-(Avon) Annex lease holder businesses utilizing the same allocated parking spaces for their own income,” he said.

“No concern is directed toward protecting the accessibility of these same parking spaces for the (Avon) Annex building lease-holding businesses, the same businesses occupying the commercial space that the town of Avon required the same parking spaces for prior to approval of the construction of that building,” Peplinski said.

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Another common complaint amongst speakers was the struggle to communicate with Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate management. Many requested that the Avon Town Council intervene on their behalf.

“We can’t talk to Hoffmann. We can’t. We need to talk to you, and you need to talk to Hoffmann,” Harding Bryant said.

“Stand up for us. Help us,” Sommerville said.

At the end of the meeting, council members Lindsay Hardy and Rich Carroll, along with Mayor Amy Phillips, said they supported town staff examining Avon’s capacity to respond to Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate’s parking regulations, and returning to the subject at a future council meeting.