The village board voted in March to standardize meter rates downtown, where rates could previously range from $1 to $2 per hour, depending on the parking spot or lot. As of Wednesday, meters up and down Main Street were charging the same rate of $2 per hour, with a time limit of four hours.

Village Trustee Jackie Kelly said in March that the village aims to lower the parking fees on the app to encourage more people to use it. The app sends reminders when the meter is about to run out and works more reliably than the meters. As of Wednesday, if people choose to pay in the Flowbird mobile app instead of at the meter, they will incur an additional service fee of 35 cents, bringing an hour of parking to a total of $2.35.

At its Monday meeting, the village board discussed extending metered parking hours in the village. Currently, enforcement hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The board is looking to extend these hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and from 1 to 8 p.m. on Sunday. Village Trustee Marc Galvin said the extended hours are an attempt to turn over Main Street parking spots more quickly.

“A lot of restaurant workers will roll in for their dinner shift at 4, 4:30 (p.m.), park their car, maybe pay just a little bit and then be camped out there all night while the retail and other businesses that are still open, they don’t have any parking for their customers,” Galvin said. “So, having enforcement will help turn those spaces.”

“That’s the whole idea … to give people who come to Main Street a place to park so that the employees aren’t taking all the spaces,” Mayor Art Devlin added.

Main Street employees are eligible for annual parking permits that allow them to park at designated parking spots along Main Street all day without feeding the meter. The annual parking permit is only available to Main Street employees and residents and is valid for one year. It is administered by the Lake Placid Police Department.

The village board voted in March to increase annual parking permits to $200, citing inflation and other recent price increases. The permits had previously been $150 since 2016. The permits turn over on May 10 and must be renewed annually; the village offers prorated passes throughout the year, with prices adjusted accordingly.

This pass is different than the resident parking pass, which is free and was rolled out last year. It allows residents of Lake Placid and North Elba to park in metered spaces from 7 to 11 a.m. at no charge and is administered through the North Elba town clerk’s office.

Any metered parking changes in the village need to be made via an amendment to the local parking law. This means the board must hold a public hearing regarding the changes before it takes a vote. The metered parking hearing is set for July 1 at 4:45 p.m., and the board plans to vote on the changes at its regular board meeting following the hearing.

As of Wednesday, the app already displays the proposed new metered parking hours: 8 a.m to 8 p.m. on all days except Sunday, when it’s 1 to 8 p.m. Devlin said on Wednesday that the app’s current information is inaccurate; parking is still only being enforced from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Sundays. He said these incorrect hours have been displayed in the app for a while, and when the village went to update the meter rates, they did not change them, as they’d likely need to change the hours back to what they currently display in a month anyway.

“I think it was that way before (the rate changes) and they didn’t change it (with the rates),” he said.

Village Treasurer Mindy Goddeau said at the village board’s Monday meeting that parking enforcement officers had noticed the physical meters displaying incorrect enforcement times, too — though not the same hours the app displays.

“(Village parking enforcement) did a full audit of them on Sunday and another audit of them today,” she said. “They’re not all accurate in time. One says 1 to 10 (p.m.), one says noon to 6 (p.m.).”