Downtown Parking Management Updates
The City of Fort Collins is proposing updates to the downtown parking system to make it financially sustainable, fair and easier to use.
This webpage is the official source of information from the City of Fort Collins about updates to the downtown parking system, along with other official City of Fort Collins communications channels.
Current Parking System Model
Today, downtown Fort Collins has an “upside down” system:
- The closest street parking is free with a 2-hour limit.
- Nearby City-owned garages cost $1 per hour, with the first hour free.
- With ongoing maintenance requirements, the three City garages operate at a financial loss.
This creates an imbalance. The most convenient spaces — directly in front of businesses — are free, while garages a short walk away require payment. Naturally, as a result of that upside down model, the on-street parking availability becomes overcrowded with users wanting to park close to their destination, and the paid parking revenue doesn't cover the cost of maintaining and operating the parking system as a whole.
As downtown continues to grow, this model isn't financially sustainable. It also limits turnover in high-demand areas, making it harder for customers to find convenient parking.
How Free Parking Works and How We Fund It
Free parking is never truly free — the cost is simply paid in less visible ways. When parking is offered at no charge, someone still pays to build it, maintain it and manage it. Those costs are often absorbed into local tax structures (higher rents, higher prices for goods and services), public subsidies or deferred maintenance.
A fully “free” model shifts costs broadly across the community. A user-paid model aligns costs more directly with usage and can reduce pressure on general tax revenues.
Fort Collins currently operates with free on-street parking and a user-paid model in its parking garages, charging only those who use garage parking. But due to the “upside down” model of the paid parking system, parking revenue from the City’s parking garages isn’t fully funding the City’s parking system.
Based on feedback from the community as well as the City’s consultants, the City is recommending a variety of changes to its parking system, including implementing paid on-street parking.
What’s Changing: Near-Team
Anticipated near-term changes include:
Beginning March 23, 2026: Moving to six day per week, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. enforcement of on-street parking.
Beginning Sept. 1, 2026, pending City Manager's approval: Increasing fines for parking violations
Beginning Sept. 1, 2026, pending City Manager's approval: Removing the City’s current “Courtesy Notice” for first-time violations, implementing a fine
Increasing options for downtown parking permits, including employee parking permits for employees of downtown businesses
Installing better parking enforcement mechanisms in the City’s parking garages
A managed parking system is essential to supporting a thriving downtown. The City is working with all stakeholders in downtown Fort Collins to ensure the solutions implemented are the best possible solutions for everyone.
What’s Changing: Long-Term
A map of the City’s proposed updates to downtown parking, including a new proposed paid parking zone shown in purple. All parking, including street, lot and garage parking, inside the purple zone would have an associated fee.
More specific details about the City’s proposed parking updates will be provided following additional meetings with City Council. Any expansion of paid parking downtown as a part of these updates is expected to be implemented in 2027 or 2028.
What We Heard From the Community
Since October 2025, the City has hosted Open House events, public engagement tables in Old Town Square, focused engagement events with downtown businesses and stakeholders, and online engagement on this webpage.
Common themes we heard:
Concern about impacts to small businesses
Concern about employee parking
Questions about enforcement practices
Questions about financial transparency
Interest in fair pricing and turnover
Concern about long-term infrastructure costs
The final recommendation reflects this feedback, including updates to enforcement practices, technology improvements and financial transparency.
FAQs
We've answered our most frequently asked questions (FAQs) from the community in the Project Updates section below (see: FAQs) with detailed feedback.
Submit a comment
I frequently visit my parents here, and paid parking would make such a cool, walkable, inviting downtown less open and manageable to visit for me. I feel local businesses would suffer.
Please keep downtown parking free! The free options keep our downtown more equitable to those who want to spend time downtown but can’t afford the parking fees.
I am a senior citizen who lives east of FoCo. I have routinely visited Old Town Foco for over 50 years to enjoy the restaurants, shopping, professional services and entertainment. One thing I loathe in other cities which charge for parking is the hassle of having to find the payment kiosk or sign up for a mobile app, having to use a credit card for payment, as well as the additional cost for my trip. Paid parking will be a deterrent to my ongoing support for local businesses there.
No paid parking.
don’t charge for parking downtown! it will hurt our local business and csu students
im especially not in favor of removing the 2 hour limit - if the limit is removed, people will start paying to park all day instead of using the garage and i wont be able to drop in to my favorite places. i have seen other areas in town become nothing more than glorified office parks when people are allowed to park on the road all day and take away spots from visitors to the local businesses, please dont let it happen to old town too!
Please keep downtown parking free! This would be a significant barrier to patronizing downtown businesses.
Paid parking will deter me from going down town. Don’t do it!
I love to visit local coffee shops to do homework, but it just won’t be worth the cost of if I have to pay for parking. I think coffee shops such as starry night, harbinger and Lima will be really affected by this. Please do not make us pay for parking!
I am against the proposed change to parking fees in Old Town in Fort Collins.
Please do not implement paid parking meters in Downtown Fort Collins. In particular I am concerned for elderly customers such as those who go to City Drug to get their prescriptions. Let's not hurt our downtown businesses in any way.
Please help the elderly by not having to pay this fee. For example those who need to get their prescriptions at City Drug in downtown Fort Collins. They do not need this extra hassle.
No parking fee allows me to dip in and out multiple times a day to shop or make appointments nearby as needed. I prefer downtown due to the proximity of everything and the hassle free quick and easy parking means I don’t have to think about the cost or the inconvenience of monitoring it once paid. As a citizen of Fort Collins I urge the City to keep parking free downtown to help keep what is unique about our very walkable city alive.
You’re not just going to hurt small businesses and the people that work there, but also the people living one surrounding neighborhoods. As someone who works for a local business in old town, having to pay to be able to park at my job is insane. You’re making one of the most beautiful parts of the city feel so much more unwelcoming. Keep 2 hour parking.
Charge for street parking along College only, make the first 2 hours in the garages free!
pay parking allows for the equitable and efficient management of a limited resource.
By charging for parking, urban centers can help create turn-over within the most convenient and desirable
public parking supplies, generally on-street spaces. A
well-run public parking system will cover operating expenses and may generate additional income to
maintain public infrastructure, build new facilities, incentivize new development, reduce traffic congestion,
and subsidize other types of transit and mobility programs. Additionally, pay parking systems are generally
more efficient than free parking. Over time, this efficiency allows for higher development density, more
diversity of land uses, and a more walkable, bikeable, and vibrant city center. With the arrival of many new
technologies for payment, wayfinding, and reservations, pay parking is often easy to use and may result in
more availability of on-street spaces to serve customers and visitors
Hi, I am a small business owner in the proposed pay of parking area. I am a small service based office, a massage and yoga space, and clients having to pay to come to my office will hurt my business. Another thing is, I do not park all day near my office but I do have to park there for trips bringing laundry (2x a week) and other supplies in and out of my car. I don't want to have to pay to bring necessary large items into my office. Please reconsider having a paid parking. Small businesses are already feeling a negative impact from the current economy and this will make things worse for us.
Keep foco free parking
We need to keep parking downtown easy for people to pop into shops. Without it, there's a barrier to people being able to access shops downtown for quick visits and makes it so that they will only come downtown if they have a chunk of time to spend. If there's concern about increasing turnover, the current 2 hour time limit could be reduced to 1 hour in some key spots but there's no reason to eliminate free short-term parking.
Smart phone apps pose a significant barrier for senior citizens who rely on flip phones or people who have no credit card. Let's keep old town accessible for all residents. I am concerned about people hogging spots by extending their time through the app. This will surely impact the turn over of available spots, making shopping in old town more frustrating. Let's also keep our hard earned dollars in town and not send a portion of it to 3rd party vendors like Park Mobile. The big city parking model is not for Fort Collins. We choose to live here because of little things like free two-hour parking in old town.
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