Jenkintown Borough Council will discuss the proposed parking ordinance change during a meeting at 7:00pm on Wednesday, March 26 in Borough Hall.

The borough held a meeting earlier this month, during which residents voiced their concerns over plans to add metered parking along eight streets. A special public community meeting was also held on Wednesday, March 12 to discuss the possible advertisement of the ordinance as it relates to permit parking and payment parking areas and related parking provisions.

The borough originally advertised the ordinance in February 2024 and have advertised it several times, according to borough manager George Locke.

“Council has held three public meetings on the proposed parking ordinance as well as had the topic on many Committee/Council agendas during that time,” Locke said.

Locke provided Glenside Local with a list of some of the reasons for the change:

• The existing ordinance was antiquated, inconsistent and did not provide enforceable regulations.
• Over the years many verbal remedies were offered by the prior administration creating essentially many unwritten rules for the various streets.
• The streets that had 3-hour parking could not be effectively enforced as without charging for those 3 hrs there was no way of telling when a car arrived unless an Officer witnessed the arrival.
• In many instances the resident complaints received concerning a vehicle overstaying the allowable time or parking without a permit were not enforceable.
• The current hours of permit parking did not allow for guests to visit residents once the permit time started and enforcement of that aspect did not appear fair to residents.
• The zoning code encourages apartment living above ground floor commercial/retail. Several (at least 10) apartments and retail spaces (at least 4) have been vacant for an extended period of time, are being remodeled and will have tenants in the near future compounding the current parking configuration.
• This overdue overall re-write of the parking ordinance was done with the current and future parking needs of the Borough in mind.
• The idea of having businesses utilizing the available street parking on streets adjacent or in the business district during the day was a way to plan for that future.
• A way to grow and sustain the commercial tax base is the best way to minimize and stabilize the residential tax burden.
• Several businesses have requested that this consideration to be made (utilizing un-used street parking on streets adjacent to the business district during the daytime hours)
• The reason to limiting permits to two per residence was due to the amount of passes currently issued far exceeding he available parking.
• No parking cost increase is being recommended, and residential parking passes will no be at no cost.
• Electronic payment system chosen was ParkMobile and that had to do with the Borough having had ParkMobile since 2018, the proposed expansion of that contract did not entail a cost increase, and the neighboring municipalities choosing parkmobile.
• The reason from going from coin to electronic payment was due to aging and failing equipment (kiosks and meters), the banks discontinuing bulk change acceptance, excessive staff time expended in making collections and delivering connections to the financial institution.

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