Study: Parking fix needed in Oregon City

OREGON CITY, Ore. - Ever had trouble trying to park in downtown Oregon City? You're definitely not alone.

A new study finds the town needs a major parking fix, something a lot of businesses and customers have known for a long time.  Talk to anyone who works or shops in Oregon City and they'll tell you all about it.

"In the daytime it's pretty terrible," said Kyle Bradfield, who owns Mi Famiglia Restaurant.  "You can't find a spot and when you do find a spot, you have a limited time.  If you don't move your car, you'll get a ticket."

Bradfield said he just paid $400 in parking tickets and his employees and customers do complain.

"We had an employee get towed about six months ago and I ended up paying about $500 to get her car out of impound," he said.

A consultant studied the parking issue and agreed there are problems but pointed out that the issue isn't a lack of parking spaces but how those spaces are used.

For example, with the courthouse and other government buildings, people who work at and use those buildings fight over spots with customers who would also like to park close to the shopping.  The study also found that in the peak parking, there are 285 spots with meters being used but more than 100 spots with meters sit empty because they might only be 30-minute meters - not enough time for some folks.

The city and parking consultant met with law enforcement on Thursday because they account for a lot of the parking spots since the sheriff's office has to man the courthouse.  On Friday, the same group plans to meet with business owners to try to come up with a solution that will make better use of the city's parking.