File Photo

By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(Feb. 12, 2026) Members of Berlin’s parking committee told the Town Council this week that they have been unable to agree on how to pay for repairs to municipal and quasi-public parking lots.

Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall told the council and audience members at Monday night’s regular meeting that the parking subcommittee, which includes himself, Councilmember Steve Green, and Councilmember Jay Knerr, has explored several options to get more then $1 million needed to repair parking lots in the downtown business district.

Suggestions have included paid parking, paid parking only during events, increased business license fees in exchange for no paid parking, an arts and entertainment fee on all sales and voluntary donation campaigns.

However, none of the ideas have received enough support from committee members as well as business merchants to move forward.

“From what I recall from our last meeting, we could not reach consensus on a paid event parking plan,” Tyndall said. “We could not reach a clear consensus on … increasing business license fees to cover a portion of what paid parking would generate in income.”

Green said the town faces over $1 million in infrastructure needs for municipally owned and town used lots. The much-needed work includes not just resurfacing but also underlying structural issues.

“We keep throwing ideas out … and we keep running into opposition,” Green said. “…We have all tried very hard. We are back to no solution at this point.”

Tyndall said one proposal was to launch a campaign to encourage residents and visitors to pay for parking voluntarily. Signs could be placed in parking lots, and posts could be made on social media to encourage donations to the repair effort.

However, subcommittee members and town staff weren’t optimistic that the venture would generate enough revenue.

Berlin’s Economic and Community Development Director Ivy Wells said the Berlin Fire Company often solicits donations at town events but raises only a few hundred dollars.

“I think people would be more inclined to donate to the fire company than just, ‘Hey, keep parking free, but you pay so everyone else doesn’t have to,’” she said. “I think it’s potentially a waste of our time with the amount of money that is needed.”

Grant options are also being explored to address the project.

Knerr suggested breaking the work into smaller phases, starting with individual projects. The Commerce Street lot alone is estimated at $178,000. However, town staff noted that these figures are outdated and require revision.

Tyndall maintained that even with a phased approach, the municipality needs to be cautious in how the parking lot work gets funded.

“We all know how residents are going to feel if we are now spending a sizable amount of money for parking downtown from the general fund without a way to really show contributions to cover those expenditures,” he said.

Councilmember Jack Orris questioned why even event-only paid parking failed to gain traction. Green said there was “robust opposition” and concern that it would lead to broader paid parking policies.

“We are failing to gain any sense of consensus,” Tyndall concluded, “even with a slim majority.”