Parking Projects

After completing an audit on our public parking programs (see further below), the City is pursuing multiple projects to improve the parking experience for residents, businesses, employees, customers, and visitors.

Parking Technology Upgrades

The City is upgrading our technology to provide an improved experience such as new options for mobile payment and digital permits. Read more about this work here.

Spring 2026 Update

The first phase of this project includes:

  • Transitioning to license plate-based (digital) parking permits and away from stickers, hangtags, and paper. This means, for most permits, it is no longer necessary to apply in-person. A new online parking permit portal for applying, managing, and renewing most parking permits once available at the Parking Permits page.
  • Link to a new online portal for parking ticket (citation) payments and appeals (new online option) will be listed on future printed citations and at the Municipal Court page.

Future phases(s) of the project include a mobile pay option at metered parking.

Downtown Parking Changes

In 2024 and 2025 City staff worked with a parking consultant and Council-appointed limited duration Downtown Parking Task Force of community members to discuss potential changes to how parking is managed downtown. The Task Force’s work was informed by data collected during the 2023 Downtown Parking Study.

To learn more about the findings and recommendations, you can watch the March 2025 open house presentation or view the presentation slides.

Recommendations Developed to Guide Next Steps – April 2025

Based on the recommendations from the parking audit, the work of the Task Force, and public input, staff provided the following recommendations to Council for implementing improvements to downtown parking:

  1. Create a Downtown Parking Management Area (DPMA) with a defined boundary and actively manage it using a variety of strategies guided by prior and ongoing data collection and industry best practices. It is very important to note that the creation of a DPMA is not synonymous with the “elimination of free parking in downtown”. In fact, it is likely that many parking spaces within the DPMA would remain free for the foreseeable future, but some may have time limits, for example.
  2. Simplify time stays for better communication of parking requirements. A common complaint from visitors and new residents is the confusing mix of time stays, often on the same block. There are currently 15-minute, 24-minute, 30-minute, 1-hour, 2-hour, 3-hour and 10-hour time stays downtown, some free and some paid. Simplifying times would provide a more predictable parking experience downtown, encourage return visits, and reduce the chance of an unanticipated citation.
  3. Improve wayfinding and parking signage with parking branding to better communicate parking requirements. Parking signs would be revised to be more visible and easier to understand.
  4. Offer permits for DPMA City-owned parking lots to employees, employers, residents, and frequent visitors. This would provide cost savings to those frequently downtown. It would also take pressure off the on-street parking supply, which should be prioritized for customers of businesses downtown.
  5. Relocate paid and free parking throughout the DPMA, supported by utilization data and parking management guiding principles such as the 85% occupancy “standard”. This would result in the elimination of the Free Customer Parking Area, though some spaces within that area might remain free. Again, many of those who responded to the online questionnaire appear to believe this to mean “no free parking downtown”. This is not the case, and it is not proposed.
  6. Consider facilitating the creation of a future shared parking program for downtown employees, employers, and residents to use underutilized private parking lots.

You can read the April 21, 2025 staff report that expands on the process and development of these recommendations.

Next Steps:

Staff will present a more detailed Downtown parking plan proposal for Council at a future date.

Moving forward, staff is developing a detailed plan for proposed distribution of paid, free time-limited, and free unrestricted parking within the proposed Downtown Parking Management Area. More public outreach will be conducted when this plan is prepared, with additional focus on downtown businesses, their employees, and residents.

Staff will continue to check in with Council and plans to bring ordinances and resolutions to Council that would both modernize the parking portions of the Corvallis Municipal Code and facilitate changes to the parking system.

Parking Audit

In 2019, the City began investigating how parking management in Corvallis could be improved. To help with this project the City hired a consultant to audit six key elements of its parking program and produce a series of white papers and recommendations. The intent of each audit was to evaluate current parking program management practices, policies, and code to determine if there were inefficiencies, identify strengths, and make recommendations for improvements based on industry best practices and what is most reasonable and feasible for Corvallis.

An implementation strategy was developed for the City Council to consider in the spring of 2021. City staff has subsequently revisited the implementation strategy, provided regular updates to Council, and begun working on implementing several items recommended in the audit.

White Papers

Council Discussion

Downtown Parking Study

In 2023 the City hired the same parking consultant as during the Parking Audit to evaluate if the pandemic had changed any of the audit recommendations and collect updated parking occupancy data. This study included an inventory of all on- and off-street parking in the downtown study area, utilization, and a brief analysis of parking demand and parking activity within the downtown study area. Data was collected during a weekday and on a Saturday to provide a detailed analysis and comparison. To review the parking study, click here .

  • Printer-friendly version