ROCHESTER, Minn. - For the last couple months, you could park at meters in downtown Rochester for no charge, but that all changes Monday.
That means you must follow all of the parking ordinances. Communications coordinator for the city, Nick Lemmer, said reinstating the parking ordinances follows along with slowly opening Rochester back up. He said as we get back to normal, downtown businesses rely on the city to provide their customers with parking. One of the major ways they can do that is by re-enforcing these limited time meters. "Those limited time meters allow new customers to frequent our downtown businesses throughout the day rather than having those parking spots occupied by downtown employees who may occupy a spot for 8 hours or more," explained Lemmer.
Lemmer said certain areas of the city require residential parking permits and that's also back in effect. "Now that those downtown businesses are opening, the need for those downtown parking spots is increased," Lemmer said. "As well as some of the measures we've put in place on our local transit system in order to be able to provide social distancing for those who need to find another way to work."
Lemmer said curbside pick-up may continue on a case by case basis. But for the most part, just follow the parking signs again. Downtown workers, including those working on the many construction sites, are asked to find different places to park instead of using downtown meter spaces.