The results of a survey about parking in downtown Sterling are out and the reviews are mixed.

“There’s a huge disconnect between what the perceptions of what the biggest problems are, depending on if you are visiting downtown or if you are working downtown,” Scott Shumard, Sterling city manager, told the City Council at its May 18 meeting.

At that meeting, Shumard discussed the results of the parking survey the city recently completed.

“We had some complaints from the downtown as far as parking goes so we went out and did two different public surveys, one aimed at the general population and one aimed at the business owners and employees,” Shumard said.

The survey had 17 responses from businesses and employees and 277 responses from the public.

One of the questions and answers, on the business/employee side, that raised eyebrows was the response to the question “To keep spaces open for customers, how far are you or your employees willing to walk?”

“I think this was the hardest one for me,” Shumard said.

Of the 17 responses, 76.47% said they and their employees were willing to walk under one block to keep spaces open for customers; 35.29% said one block and 11.76% said two blocks.

“That, to me, was troublesome, to say the least,” Shumard said.

People patronizing the downtown Sterling businesses park on average 30 to 60 minutes a day. That was the response to “on average, how long do your customers/clients/guests/students park downtown during the day?”

Thirty-five percent of those responding said their customers park 30 to 60 minutes, while 29% said their customers park for one to three hours, 23.53% said over three hours and 11.76% said under 30 minutes.

When it came to how long business owners and employees park downtown, 82.35% park five or more hours; 11.76% park three to five hours and 5.88% park one to three hours.

In order to improve parking space availability for customers in downtown Sterling, business owners and employees said paid permit parking or a mobile parking app, at 58.82%, was the best solution, followed by 47.06% who said longer distance was acceptable. Only 5.88% said stricter enforcement was the best choice.

A large majority of the business responses said that overall, downtown Sterling needs better parking management, at 70.59%; parking is fine, other issues matter more, was the response from 17.65% and 11.76% said downtown needs more parking.

Time limits on downtown parking, at 41.18%, was the biggest frustration from businesses and employees, followed by parking enforcement at 23.53%, not enough spaces at 11.76% and cost at 11.76%.

When it comes to public perception of downtown parking challenges, the story changes.

In response to the question “What is your biggest frustration with downtown parking?,” almost 20% of respondents said “Nothing, it’s fine.” Not enough spaces was the chief issue for 40.43% of respondents. Time limits was the top frustration for 14.44% and cost for parking permits was the biggest frustration for 11.91%.

Overall, public respondents, at 42.24%, said downtown needs more parking spaces as their overall view of the downtown parking situation, and 31.77% said “Parking is fine, other downtown issues matter more,” followed by 25.99% who said downtown needs better parking management.

The public responses also put downtown parking, compared to other downtown issues, as important (32.13%) but not a top priority (15.88%), one of many downtown issues (29.24% and not a major issue (22.74%).

In the public comment section, the public responses leaned toward concerns about business owners and employees who park in front of their businesses, reducing the number of prime parking spots for their customers.

“Not having to compete with employees and business owners to park at a business,” “Make business owners and employees use permit parking only,” “Owners or workers of businesses need to park away from their businesses and let patrons use the spots,” were some of the responses to “What one change would most improve downtown parking?”

“I would like to not have to pay for a parking pass because I already pay too much for school,” “Get rid of permit parking and make it free parking,” “The parking lot in which one parks in for work should not be at a cost to them. A person should not have to pay to work,” were more responses to “What one change would most improve downtown parking?”

Other public responses centered on adding free parking spaces downtown and adding spaces closer to the downtown businesses and concerns about the city’s strict parking enforcement and fines.