City staff has been coordinating with the Campus Corner Merchants Association to upgrade the existing single-space parking meters to multi-space pay stations. This effort is part of a larger beautification project on Campus Corner that is also addressing sidewalks, curbs, lighting and Christmas light receptacles. The old single-space parking meter system, was old and unreliable. Most of the old parking meters have been removed. The new pay stations are currently being installed and are being commissioned upon installation. The old single-space parking meters operated in a pay-by-space mode. There has been a nationwide movement from pay-by-space meters to pay-by-plate method of operation. Pay-by-space is the system where the motorist enters their parking space number into the parking kiosk and submit payment for that particular space. In the more flexible pay-by-plate system, a motorist enters their license plate number which allows that license plate to park in any of the on-street spaces in Campus Corner within the confines of the originally purchased time. The other reason behind this change is, for the convenience of our users, to have all parking payments within the City of Norman as well as on the OU Campus under a single umbrella. The provider, Flowbird, either through the pay stations or through the Flowbird App to pay by cell phone will be the same for all Norman users whether they park in on-street city-maintained spaces, in either of our Municipal parking lots, or on the OU Campus. Flowbird is also used in Oklahoma City as well as Tulsa so it is familiar to the majority of users.
The enforcement hours will be remain the same as they were prior to the change which are Monday through Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The rates of $1/hour will also remain the same. Between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., the pay stations will only allow up to two hours of time to be purchased. More time, associated with the same license plate number, may be purchased after a “cooldown” period has elapsed. This is designed to encourage turnover of the parking spaces. Between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. the maximum amount of time that can be purchased increases to three hours. Meter feeding is prohibited. After the maximum allotted time, the vehicle must move. The meter will not grant additional time, even if paid.
Motorists should be aware that some spaces exist within commercial loading zones. Parking within a space located within a commercial loading zone is prohibited between the hours of 3:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Signage marking the limits of each commercial loading zones along with the times each is in effect will be present.
Staff will be monitoring the effectiveness of the new system both in terms of convenience for the users but also for ease of enforcement. For more information, contact Parking Enforcement at 405-321-1600 or NPDParking@Normanok.gov or the City Public Works/Traffic Control Division at 405-329-0528.