San Marcos is updating downtown parking with a new enforcement device and resident surveys aimed at improving accessibility and managing demand.

“The survey is designed to help us better understand parking habits, challenges and the needs in downtown San Marcos,” Charles Campbell, multimodal parking initiatives manager said. “We want to hear directly from residents and visitors, employees and students to help shape the future for parking policies and improvements.”

There are two surveys: one for the general public and one for downtown business owners and both close on April 18. The general survey asks about how, why, where and when people park downtown, and what they think about ideas like more paid parking and other enforcement methods.

According to Campbell, the information gathered in the survey is a critical component in helping the parking advisory board make a recommendation to the city council on parking management strategies.

“The insights can propose policies, infrastructure improvements that enhance availability, support economic development and ensure a well-managed, efficient parking system that meets the community needs,” Campbell said.

Amanda Alexander owns Southwest Training at 212 San Antonio St. Alexander said she had to make an agreement with nearby businesses to share parking, allowing her employees and customers to use their lots based on each business’s hours of operation due to limited parking in downtown.

“Parking is a challenge. It’s helpful, utilizing our neighbors, but [overall] it’s challenging because of the apartment complexes of downtown and students,” Alexander said. “When [students are] gone, there’s plenty of parking, but when students are in session, they don’t park in the apartment complexes or the complexes did not build enough space.”

Alexander is on the parking advisory committee and helped work on the survey questions. She said the advisory committee is in a difficult position in trying to make parking recommendations.

“The question is ‘how do we help relieve the downtown, and not to disenfranchise people, but also not to deter people from being downtown, but also still make sure that there’s places to park downtown?’” Alexander said.

San Marcos is also the first city in Texas to utilize a new vehicle immobilization and parking enforcement tool called the “Barnacle,” which the city began using on March 10.

“The city of San Marcos introduced the Barnacle to help fairly and efficiently enforce parking regulations while offering a more convenient option for drivers with unpaid citations,” Russell Wilde, public safety communications specialist, wrote in an email to The Star.

Starting March 10, any vehicle with three or more unpaid and overdue parking tickets will get an orange sticker on the driver’s side window. If the tickets aren’t paid or the court isn’t contacted within 10 days, the vehicle can be immobilized. According to the press release emailed to The Star, the city can place a Barnacle device on the vehicle “any time it’s parked on a public street or city property, even if it’s parked legally at the time.”

“The Barnacle can be used anywhere within city limits, with a primary focus on downtown,” Wilde wrote. “Parking enforcement scans license plates to identify vehicles eligible for immobilization, and if identified, they can be immobilized on any public street or city property.”

The Barnacle is a large yellow plastic device that suctions to a vehicle’s windshield. Equipped with an alarm and GPS tracking, the device alerts parking enforcement if it’s tampered with or if the vehicle is driven while it’s attached.

To remove the Barnacle, the owner has to pay a fine by scanning a QR code, visiting the San Marcos Citation Portal or arranging payment with the municipal court.

Alexander suggests better enforcement of parking violations and paid parking could help relieve some of the lack of available spaces.

“More enforcement for folks that are parking overnight or staying there too long would be helpful,” Alexander said. “The second thing that would be helpful is potentially paid or mediated parking in some capacity, and the third thing that would be helpful would be to change the way that we approve development downtown.”

According to Wilde, San Marcos has more than $100,000 in outstanding parking fines, and the Barnacle could help resolve this by reducing frustration and improving access to parking. The city has already seen improvements with previous vehicle immobilization efforts.

“Before the city of San Marcos began immobilizing vehicles with boots in August 2023, fine collection rates were below 40%,” Wilde wrote. “Since implementing vehicle immobilization, collections have risen to over 60%, helping ensure compliance with parking regulations.”