Roswell Parking and City Council
We went to the City Council meeting last night, (3/30/26) for public opinion for the Council voting on 3/9 to convert all free parking to some form of paid parking.
I didn't know all the details, except they were petitioning to keep parking free in the new parking deck and for the all existing free parking. It was a large turnout. I'd say there were more than 100 people there, it was pretty full. At the beginning, they had 29 people who filled out the comment form to speak but I saw plenty more turn in comment cards throughout the meeting. Not every one of the speakers talked about parking. One person talked about the East Roswell Fire station, someone gave a really good comment about the trees being cut down by Martin's landing, and then there were various topics.
The parking topic ruled the meeting and many citizens and business owners gave fiery an impassioned comments. What I learned was that on 3/9 it appears the City Council _did_ vote to do convert free parking to paid parking. Many of the questions by the meeting attending claimed there was no public input, the decision was made in silence, etc.
I wanted to see what actually happened so I watched the 3/9 meeting. Here's what was voted on 3/9/2026:
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Approval of a Resolution to update locations in the City of Roswell to designate paid or restricted parking areas and approve the staff-recommended Initial Implementation Plan.
Item Summary:
In 2019 Mayor and Council added Article 22.3 to the Roswell Code of Ordinances granting the Authority of Mayor and Council to establish and regulate designated areas of the City for paid on-street parking by any means, public or private that Mayor and Council deem appropriate and to provide for parking enforcement in the designated areas through civil fines for violation of any parking times established.
In 2025 Mayor and Council amended Article 22.3.7 and 22.3.8 of the Code of Ordinances to allow for charging and enforcement of parking in areas controlled by the City including off-street parking as designated by Council.
Through this Agenda Item, staff is proposing to designate additional locations as identified on
Exhibit A for paid or restricted parking in the City of Roswell:
2025 locations
- All of Canton Street between Magnolia Street and Norcross Street
- All of Elizabeth Way between Canton Street and Alpharetta Hwy
- All of East Alley between Canton Street and Norcross Street
- East Alley Parking Lot
- Old Mill Park Parking Lot
2026 updated additional locations
6) Green Street Parking Deck and Surface Lot
7) 1056 Green Street (Gravel Lot)
8) City Hall & Cultural Art Center Parking Lots
9) Hill Street between Atlanta Street and Forrest Street
10) Hillrose Parking Deck
11) Hillrose parking lots
If you want to watch the video it self, it starts as agenda item #4 at 1:12:30-ish. The speak goes on to explain how they analyzed it, came up with scenarios, and then explains how they came up with their recommendation. I'll be honest, it _does_ appear that they completely intended to find ways to generate revenue from parking since no where does he talk about keeping parking free. He does address employee parking, floating rates, free times (M-F business hours at city hall). It does seem extremely thorough to me, but again, never did they mention keeping parking free.
They open it up to public comment around 1:40:19.
You can watch the video from the City Council Portal here.
You can also see the meeting minutes. Here's a screenshot of who voted for it:
I haven't made it through the public comments from 3/9 or watched when the council votes, but I'll do that next.
Many residents and business owners really had excellent points and really challenged the City Council. Ryan Pernice broke down how charging for parking would hurt hospitality workers and explained how these workers would simply go work in another city center that didn't charge for parking, (Woodstock, Alpharetta, John's Creek, etc). He gets the award for the best quote when he said, "I work in the hospitality industry. You should try it sometime" and he got a standing ovation.
A restaurant work spoke stating as servers they only make $2.15 plus tips and having to pay for parking would really put a hurting on them. It was a strong show of support for sure.
I'm trying to avoid a long wall of text and since you can go watch the videos your self, i suggest you do if you have time and come to your own conclusions.
I'm going to watch the rest of the meeting from 3/9/36 later.