City of Birmingham Advisory Parking Committee Meeting on October 7, 2026

The City of Birmingham Advisory Parking Committee met on October 7, 2026, to review parking-system demand, garage maintenance, elevator upgrades, and upcoming projects. Staff reported selecting Rich & Associates over Walker Parking Consultants for a downtown parking supply-and-demand analysis, citing a lower quote and added GIS mapping and expansion options. The agreement had been approved the prior day but was not yet signed or formally launched; the study is expected to take about six weeks once underway and will use city parking data, with neighborhood overflow information also to be shared. The committee discussed long-term parking-system sustainability and capital planning, including a reported roughly $50 million fund balance and an approximately $750,000 monthly net figure, while members disagreed about whether current garage plans adequately address long-term costs. No new parking-rate analysis was specifically requested.

Procurement and project updates included a citywide elevator consultant engagement, approved and starting immediately, to assess elevators, advise on code-related upgrades and budgets, and help prepare a future elevator-service RFP; seven of eight parking-garage elevators were operating, with Chester’s south elevator down for about six months. Bids for Chester Garage aesthetic improvements are due October 20, while Pierce Garage entrance and lane concrete work will be competitively bid without a formal RFP, with completion targeted before winter. Staff described planned Peabody Garage structural and aesthetic work and a load assessment to determine whether expansion is feasible; the prior committee vote to restripe for wider spaces was reported as 4–1. Emergency brick repairs at Park Street Garage were completed. Members also noted a city policy requiring construction companies to pay for parking spaces closed during their work. The minutes were approved; the committee tentatively scheduled its next meeting for December 2, with a possible November meeting depending on zoning-study developments.