Dena Levitz, The Examiner
2007-06-12 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

Montgomery County -

Drivers in Montgomery County soon will be required to pay more often to park on the streets and in public facilities around the county, including on Saturdays.

Come July 1, parking rates and parking hours requiring payment will be increasing. The biggest adjustment — and point of controversy when rate changes were discussed in the spring — is that motorists will no longer be able to park for free in public lots on Saturdays.

County spokeswoman Esther Bowring said the primary motivation is to standardize the parking facilities across the five parking districts in Bethesda, North Bethesda, Silver Spring, Montgomery Hills and Wheaton.

“We want to make the garages and lots consistent across these areas,” she told The Examiner on Monday.

Starting next month, residents will be charged to park in county garages between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, during the same hours on surface lots Monday through Saturday, and on public streets between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

In Bethesda, the hours change is different only for lot parking, while in Silver Spring, Montgomery Hills and Wheaton the hours changes are across the board for all three categories, in most cases by an hour or two per day.

Bowring said there are two exceptions to the new rules.

Montgomery County’s two newest garages — at the intersections of Wayne and Ellsworth avenues and Ellsworth Avenue and Roeder Road in Silver Spring — will continue to charge customers between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Fridays.

“Those have special agreements that give them a 20-year guarantee of staying with the same paid hours,” she said.

In terms of rates, the only parking district that will experience a surge is North Bethesda, where residents will have to pay 60 cents an hour for short-term meters and 45 cents per hour when they park for three hours longer.

That’s the same rate that drivers pay in Silver Spring and Montgomery Hills.

dlevitz@dcexaminer.com