Parking for Overnight Guests of Residents

Like people anywhere, residents of Reston Town Center (RTC) might host relatives or other guests who stay in the resident’s home for a night or two up to a week or two.  While guests who have traveled here by automobile are visiting their RTC resident host, these guests need to park their vehicle somewhere.  I think that “parking that is designed for” RTC “residents” and “guests” must permit these guest vehicles to be parked in RTC free or at very low cost.

Except for the parking duration being less than a month, I think parking for these vehicles of overnight guests of residents should be handled much like I proposed in my post regarding parking of vehicles of RTC residents.  Parking for overnight guests of residents (now quoting from that post) “should NOT be on RTC streets; instead, it should be in designated areas (perhaps upper levels) of designated garages in RTC, and SHOULD be permitted continuously for 24 hours per day without moving the vehicle each day.  RTC street parking--and garage parking convenient to street level--should be kept available for short-term (hourly) parking, at least during the daytime.”

While it is clear that a pass would be required for this parking for overnight guests of RTC residents, I don’t have a firm idea how much—if anything—it should cost.  Free might be appropriate for up to one week or, at most, two weeks.  If there is to be a charge from day one, $2 per day sounds good to me.

In my next post, I’ll discuss parking for non-overnight social guests of RTC residents.

Paid Parking for Reston Town Center Residents

In my recent post regarding paid parking in our Reston Town Center (RTC), I cited the RTC Executive Director’s reference to “parking that is designed for our … residents….  I am disappointed to have to say that I don’t see where needs of RTC residents have been considered in formulating the RTC paid-parking plan.  In this post, I will begin to set forth parking needs of RTC residents that I believe the RTC parking plan should accommodate.  I limit the scope of this post to vehicles that are owned or leased by residents of RTC.  In future posts, I will discuss parking requirements for vehicles that belong to guests of RTC residents.

A post by Karen Goff 18 March 2016 in "reston now" includes this line regarding RTC paid parking:  “Public monthly — a pass can be purchased for $70 a month.”  I believe it is inappropriate for RTC parking—whether paid or not—to be made available to the general public if there aren’t enough parking spaces in the RTC to accommodate the four categories the RTC Executive Director email said the RTC parking “is designed for”:  RTC “employees, patrons, residents, and guests.”

But I believe $70 per month is about right for RTC residents who haven’t secured sufficient long-term parking in their own building or development.  In our Market Street at Town Center Condominium, an indoor parking space requires an investment of about $13,000.  In addition, our unit owners association also collects $13 each month for expenses associated with each parking space.  Many of our unit owners spend enough money to have enough parking spaces in our Condominium to meet the usual long-term parking space requirements for their unit.  If a unit owner hasn’t acquired sufficient parking in our Condominium, I don’t think that any resident of that unit should expect to have free parking available elsewhere in the RTC.

This monthly parking for RTC residents (for $70 per month?) should NOT be on RTC streets;  instead, it should be in designated areas (perhaps upper levels) of designated garages in RTC, and SHOULD be permitted continuously for 24 hours per day without moving the vehicle each day.  RTC street parking--and garage parking convenient to street level--should be kept available for short-term (hourly) parking, at least during the daytime.