Downtown Park IF aims to bring more communication to parking downtown

The Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation is working to help drivers better understand parking options in downtown with its new department: Downtown Park I.F.

Downtown Development doesn’t manage on-street parking; that is up to the Idaho Falls Police Department. However, it does manage four off-street parking lots that are pay to park or free with validation. It hopes people parking long-term downtown will use the pay-to-park lots rather than on-street parking.

“We do have a mix use of people using that parking,” said Catherine Smith, executive director of IFDCC. “We do have some employees parking on the street. And so what we’re trying to encourage the downtown employees to do is to park in the off-street parking lots on the outer edges of downtown so that we can keep the on-street parking available for customers.”

One of the goals is to get more open on-street parking. This can be done by getting drivers to pay attention to the on-the-street two-hour parking rule.

“It’s kind of an honor system,” Smith said. “Move your car after two hours. Only park in the space for two hours. And if you are going to be on the street for eight hours, don’t park on the street, park in the off-street.”

Other downtown parking options include public lots across Yellowstone Avenue. There will also be 70 spots at the new parking garage at the Broadway Building. Some of those will be reserved for monthly parking permits, which are just $35 per month. The garage is expected to open in a couple of weeks.

Downtown Development recently received a grant from the Idaho Falls Redevelopment Agency and will be spending $100,000 on new parking technology for the off-street lots.

“This summer, we will install pay-to-park meters in our off-street parking lots,” Smith said. “And those off-street parking lots also offer validation by a good number of merchants downtown. So even if you do park in the off-street parking lot as a customer, you can still park for free because we have a validation program.”

Visit the Downtown Park I.F. Facebook page to see a map of downtown parking areas and more information.