Government
BY AMIRA VAN LEEUWEN
New Braunfels implements paid, on-street parking in downtown
The city of New Braunfels will implement a paid, on-street parking system downtown this summer, where a free, 2-hour parking system currently exists. The change comes after the New Braunfels City Council approved an ordinance establishing paid parking on second and nal reading May 27. Explained The new paid parking system—which is geared to helping regulate high-demand areas like downtown districts—is being enforced by park- ing management company Interstate Parking. Downtown visitors will be able to park free for the rst hour. Each additional hour will be $2, with a daily max rate of $10, as previously reported by Community Impact. In total, downtown New Braunfels has over 750 on-street parking spaces. But only 253 of those spaces will be introduced into the new paid parking program, Interstate Parking CEO Tony Janowiec said during a May 12 City Council meeting. Individuals who violate the ordinance will be expected to pay a $100 parking citation. If the citation is paid within 10 days, the ne would be reduced to $65, according to the city’s website. Disabled veterans displaying o cial state-issued license plates will be exempt from parking fees, according to a news release. Revenue from the paid parking system will allow the city to reinvest in downtown parking through parking leases, signage and beauti cation and property acquisitions. How it works Signage will direct users to use their phone to scan a QR Code or send a text message to 94201 to
Approved downtown parking map Free on-street
S. MARKET AVE.
N. MARKET AVE.
Free public lots Free public lots - partially restricted Free employee permit lots
COMAL AVE.
W. COLL ST.
Paid on-street
Citywide parking violations The New Braunfels Municipal Court dealt with 3,400 parking-related violations in 2024.
S. CASTELL AVE.
FY 2023-24
3,400
HILL AVE.
FY 2024-25
4,839
S. ACADEMY AVE.
BUTCHER ST.
FY 2025-26
298 (as of May 28)
MAGAZINE AVE.
0 1K2K3K4K5K
W. CROLL ST.
SOURCE: CITY OF NEW BRAUNFELS COMMUNITY IMPACT
states. Janowiec also said there will be a “soft activa- tion” period, where individuals who do not pay will not receive a citation the rst time. Instead, they will receive a pamphlet on their windshield detailing how the pay-to-park process works. “We’ll be monitoring and continue to gather stakeholder feedback, reporting data analytics across the whole platform so that the city can continue to take that into account and plan accord- ingly,” Janowiec said.
pay. From there, users will register their license plate, select their duration of stay and make the payment, Janowiec said. “This does not require an app download,” he added. “However, repeat users will have the convenience that the software will automatically remember the last three places that they use, and it will auto-populate their phone number. So folks who use it a lot will nd the three steps even faster than the rst time they use it.” What to expect The change to downtown parking will go into e ect July 7. Parking fees will be enforced seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., the release
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