City to Charge For Parking in Farmers Market Tax Increment Financing District

Those who spend more than two consecutive hours strolling around the Dallas Farmers Market will now have to pay for parking, per action taken last week by the City Council’s Economic Development Committee. 

After the first two hours of free parking at the Dallas Farmers Market, patrons will be charged $3 per additional hour with a maximum of $18 per 24-hour period.

The charge is an effort to create a revenue stream for the Farmers Market Tax Increment Financing District and could serve as a catalyst for parking reform throughout the city, officials said. 

The average visitor to the Dallas Farmers Market stays about 1.5 hours, said Economic Development Assistant Director Kevin Spath. A 300-space free parking garage has been available since 2017. 

“People living and working downtown are parking for free and taking up valuable Farmers Market short-term customer parking,” Spath said in an Oct. 2 presentation to the committee. “Paid parking acts as a parking management tool by encouraging parking turnover. It is not intended to be overly burdensome for short-term parkers but would discourage long-term parkers.”

Paid Parking at Dallas Farmers Market

Those who exceed the two-hour limit can pay for parking with a QR code or will receive an invoice captured by a license-plate reader and cameras in the garage, Spath said. 

“The system is designed to prevent waiting and queuing,” he said. “The garage control arm will raise whether payment has been made so the vehicle can still exit. On the enforcement side, the manager will be able to send invoices through their parking vendor. They can’t enforce citations but they can send invoices to collect as a receivable.” 

District 1 Councilman Chad West suggested the study conducted in the Farmers Market TIF could be used as a model to determine parking needs in downtown and other areas of the city. 

West has advocated recently for parking reform, which includes scrapping the city’s one-size-fits-all approach, which requires a minimum number of parking spaces for new development. West’s proposal suggests that developers can determine how many spaces are needed for their businesses. 

Opponents of parking reform have said that if businesses don’t build enough spaces, vehicles will spill over into residential neighborhoods. 

Dallas TIF Districts 

Farmers Market is one of 20 tax increment financing districts within the City of Dallas. 

A portion of the increment collected within TIF districts goes back toward improvements within that zone.

Spath said city officials anticipate the Dallas Farmers Market parking garage will bring in about $4,000 to $5,000 per month for the city during the first month and will increase to about $17,000 per month. 

Councilman Omar Narvaez said he’d like to revisit the paid parking program in two years to review how it’s working.