Installation of the city’s new parking enforcement and notification system will begin next week. Parking on the affected streets will be limited as early as the day before the installation on that section begins. As crews complete the installation, parking spots will be opened. (Photo submitted)
Beginning next week, Marysville officials will begin the process of installing a parking notification and enforcement system in the Uptown area.
Beginning Monday morning, officials from Fybr, an electronic parking platform, will be in the city to install in-ground parking sensors on nearly 200 of the city’s two-hour parking spaces.
“We are planning and working to minimize the impact for the businesses in the Uptown and for the public as much as we can with the installation of these sensors,” said City Manager Terry Emery.
The sensors, which are about the size of a hockey puck and lay flush with the ground, will be used to document when a vehicle parks and when it leaves. The system allows city officials to monitor when and where visitors are parking. If a vehicle has been in a space more than two hours, law enforcement can be notified to ticket the vehicle.
The two-hour parking spots are on Court, Main and Plum streets between Sixth and Fourth streets. The two-hour limit applies from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. During other hours, there is no time limit on parking.
The installation is expected to take three days to complete. Officials will block parking on the certain streets Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in preparation for the installation the next day. Officials have worked to keep parking open on one side of the street while crews work on the other as much as possible.
“The nice thing about this is that as they install the sensor at each parking spot, they will pull the cones and that parking spot will open up and become available again,” said City Engineer Kyle Hoyng.
City officials know the installation will be frustrating for business owners in the Uptown, but said they hope to be “a long way toward getting done each day before some of those businesses open.”
Earlier this year, council approved implementing the Fybr system. Hoyng said there is usually a delay before the company is able to install the sensors and system, but Fybr installers were going to be in the region expanding Westerville’s existing system.
In addition to allowing the city to enforce its parking rules, the system has an available smartphone app that allows visitors to log in and see available parking in the area.
If the city ever returns to pay parking, the app will allow visitors to pay for their spot.
Hoyng said city officials will work with Fybr app developers to design and customize the parking app for Marysville. He said it will take about six weeks for the app to be fully developed and ready for public rollout.
“I would anticipate that by about Sept. 1, we will be in a position with the app to put it out there,” Emery said.
Officials said it will cost about $51,000 for the purchase and installation of the system infrastructure and the 198 sensors. Each sensor also has a $9 per month fee for data connectivity, the mobile app, accessibility and warranty costs. As long as there is an ongoing contract, the company will replace the sensors at the end of their regular life cycle of seven to 10 years.
A second phase of the system could eventually be added to cover about 150 parking spots in the public parking lots on Fourth and Sixth streets and at Partners Park.
Marysville officials are working to prepare and stripe parking spots for next week’s installation of a parking enforcement and notification system. Above, City Project Manager Marc Dilsaver and engineering intern Caleb Dilsaver measure parking spots on West Fourth Street on Wednesday afternoon. (Journal-Tribune photo by Mac Cordell)