SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s capital city is already amending its recently altered downtown parking fee structure.
Beginning as early as this week, drivers can park at a two-hour space for up to four hours after 6 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays. Two-hour limits will remain in place on those days between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., while spaces are unmetered on Sundays and during holidays.
The change is in response to feedback from drivers and some of the local businesses who voiced frustrations with parking times, said Weston Clark, director of community outreach for Salt Lake City. The two-hour limit made it increasingly difficult for people who came to the area for events, dinner or both.
“What we hadn’t anticipated was that the new metering, along with the extension of the two-hour time limit deep into the evening, would create an issue for our arts and entertainment venue patrons who had previously not had to worry about dinner and a show — or sometimes just the show — going past two hours,” he said.
The Salt Lake City Council adopted a new downtown parking fee and structure ahead of its 2026 fiscal year, which began in July. It raised the cost of parking from $2.25 per hour to $3.50 per hour, and added Saturday to its list of days when fees are required. It also extended the hours when collections are in effect from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Most of the changes, which also apply to meters in Central City and areas near the University of Utah, aimed to increase parking space turnover so that more people can park to visit downtown businesses throughout the day.
“There wasn’t as much incentive to leave once you had parked. So people were staying longer, and it meant that those who were trying to visit some of those small businesses in the evenings or on the weekends were either having to park farther away or to park in other places,” Julie Crookston, deputy director of operations for the Salt Lake City Department of Public Services, said of the old rules at the time.
But some residents questioned if “more expensive short-term parking” would harm the city’s goal of being an “event city” before the changes were implemented.
The new rule alteration is “data-driven” and still consistent with creating parking turnover, while helping people coming downtown for events, Clark said. He said the adjustments will be conveyed to local businesses through the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance and the city’s social media channels in the coming days.
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