With opening day for the Nationals less than two months away, the DC Department of Transportation is only beginning to finalize plans for transportation management around the new ballpark. Full implementation of a “performance parking” pilot for the area – a program developed by Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells – will not be possible for the ballpark's first season, and DDOT will be scrambling to implement an interim “Phase I” plan.

In late December, Wells unveiled a pilot program for the area of impact around the ballpark. The pilot employs a combination of restrictions, enforcement and market forces to manage curbside parking and related congestion. Prior to Wells' effort, “no one else was doing this,” say community members, who expressed gratitude to Wells for taking the lead and bringing the issue to stakeholders.

The hope is to encourage drivers to think of parking as a commodity like any other. Using multi-space, pay-and-display meters, curbside parking rates would be programmed to reflect demand. Fees would vary with event schedules – including home games – and proximity to the event. Rates would likely range from $1 to $35 per hour. Drivers with Ward 6 resident stickers would be exempt from paying on residential and some commercial-area streets. They would pay for parking, like other drivers, in the highest demand zones.

This program should promote parking behavior that will protect residents and businesses, believes Wells. The bill, which enables the program and provides for the purchase of the meters, has only begun its legislative journey, however.

The legislation was scheduled for a public hearing before the DC Council's Committee on Public Works and the Environment, chaired by Jim Graham (Ward 1), at the end of January. Wells' office expected no delays in bringing the bill before the Feb. 5 legislative session. Still, ordering the necessary meters and acting on changes in the parking regulations must await the bill. Full implementation of the pilot will probably begin in the fall.

DDOT “is confident,” however, that Phase I – installation of existing pay/display meters, implementation of a Residential Parking Program and all appropriate signage – will be in place by March 30.

According to draft plans, the limited number of pay/display meters will be deployed on the highest demand, commercial streets: Pennsylvania Avenue SE from Second to Ninth streets; Eighth Street at Barracks Row; streets around the Navy Yard Metro station; and some additional, currently metered streets. Every driver will pay for these spots. Additional meters will be used on high demand, residential streets, with Ward 6 residents exempt from the fee; draft maps include the area around Garfield Park in this category. For most other streets in the area of impact, Ward 6 residents only could park on one side, while the other would permit short-term (2 or 2-1/2 hour, probably) visitor parking as well as resident parking. All restrictions would be in place until late evening – perhaps 10 p.m. or midnight.

In order to protect residential parking and promote the turnover that businesses need to thrive, enforcement – especially on weekends – will be crucial. Although community members are skeptical, Wells has been told that the Department of Public Works is prepared to ticket and tow without additional appropriation. In addition, he says, the pay/display meters – once deployed – streamline enforcement by making evident the length of a car's stay without constant surveillance.

One controversial aspect of DDOT's plan is accommodating visitors to area homes and churches. DDOT is preparing guest parking passes, numbered and hologrammed to prevent duplication. Draft plans would provide one per household and a limited number for churches. Procedures for obtaining temporary permits from the Metropolitan Police Department for out-of-town visitors or contractors will remain in effect.

Rick Rybeck of DDOT told participants in a Southwest community meeting that “residential” cannot necessary be equated with “free parking” anymore. “Georgetown is a residential area,” he said, “but residents can't invite dinner guests and tell them to expect free curbside parking.”

Wells similarly recommended that Southwest and near Southeast residents adjust to a new reality: restrictions on guest parking are necessary to make residential parking available at all. Should the regulations become more onerous than helpful, however, they could be reconsidered, he said. And affected ANCs would receive notice of any future change in the rates.

In response to neighborhood concerns, a clause permitting individual blocks to “opt out” of the restrictions – changing the block's status through a petition process – is under consideration, according to Charles Allen, Wells' chief of staff.

Noting that the opt-out clause was developed in response to feedback at a January community meeting, Allen encourages community members to stay involved. “Tommy wants to get as much feedback into the plan as possible so that it works.”

The area of impact extends from 10th Street SE to 12th Street SW, the Washington Channel/Anacostia (to the south) and the Southeast-Southwest Freeway (to the north) plus streets between East Capitol Street SE and the freeway, bounded by 11th Street SE (to the east) and Washington Avenue SW and South Capitol Street (to the west).  An amendment to include Maine Street SW is under consideration.