Commericial Parking Lot Fees Reconsidered

Parking is a hot topic in Revere, especially when it comes to commercial parking lots. On June 19, the License Commission held a public hearing to discuss parking lot fees, something they visited back in April when they increased the fee from $25 to $365 per space, an increase lot owners were not happy to receive.

Al D’Amico, who owns the lot at 646 Ocean Ave. said the fee cuts 50 percent into his profits from his 176-space lot. He noted that it costs him $61,000 a year to operate the lot.

“Any additional cost would make it unprofitable for me,” he said.

Jim Arcotte, of Select Parking at 60 VFW Parkway, said he agrees the licensing fee needs to increase because it hasn’t in years, but he sees a big difference between “Park and Fly” parking lots used as a storage facility. He has 500 parking spots himself.

“The biggest problem is coming from the storage of vehicles,” he said, adding that the city collects $3 million in taxes from the Hampton Inn, Swifty and Select Parking. “

He believes any increase in the fee should be modest.

“This is a modest increase. A dollar a day doesn’t seem to be a huge increase,” Commissioner Robert Selevitch said.

Commissioner Linda Guinasso said the fee has not been raised in 25 years

“If we had done this we would have been somewhere around this now,” Guinasso said.

“In Boston it’s $60 per space per year. Setting it at $365 per space here seems like gouging,” said Jean Geary, owner of the 60-space parking lot next to the former Club Caravan.

She noted that the MBTA is changing its rates on August 1. During the week it will be $7 to park and on weekends the fee will be $2.

“It’s mind boggling to see an increase of this scale,” said Jeff Balter, of the Hampton Inn. “I urge you to reconsider.”

Selevitch suggested a two-tier parking system where a commuter lot pays $100 a space while Park and Flys pay $200 a space.

The commission is expected to make a decision on the fees at it July 19 meeting.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.