By Abby Spegman

The Olympian

It will cost you more to park in downtown Olympia starting in January.

The city plans to raise parking meter fees by 25 cents an hour at two-, three- and nine-hour meters. Permits to park for more than nine hours at nine-hour meters will go up $10 a month, as will permits to park in city-owned lots.

Raising prices was among the strategies in the city’s plan for downtown parking, finalized this spring, that looked at demand and ways to manage it in the coming years. It is not just about making money, said Max DeJarnatt, the city’s parking program analyst; it is also about freeing up spaces and cutting down on congestion from drivers circling for a spot.

“Our downtown is changing and growing and we need to find ways to get our long-term parking into off-street facilities, which are better for long-term parking,” he said. “The curb is better for short term.”

Meter prices were last raised in 2011. The city now plans to review prices and fines once a year.

More parking changes are on the horizon. The city plans to expand its pay-by-phone system, which debuted last year, into off-street lots and convert some nine-hour meters to short-term visitor parking.

City owned lots are free after 5 p.m. and on the weekends, and the city is trying to get private lots to do the same.

One of the biggest changes in the parking landscape would be the addition of a garage. The city’s parking plan calls for one, warning development in the downtown core could push parking over 90 percent occupancy in the next 20 years without it.