Moped parking finds spots in Birmingham

Those striped spots adjacent to parking spots on Old Woodward have found a new use, after city commissioners unanimously approved turning them into moped parking spaces at their meeting on Monday, November 12.

Planning director Jana Ecker informed commissioners that the city's multi-modal transportation board looked at the striped area “where you can't park a car,” in the newly-reconstructed area of Old Woodward between Oakland and Brown streets. She said there are three areas of 3 by 6 foot spaces, for a total of 27 spaces.

“They looked at charging for parking with meters, but the committee determined they weren't authorized to do that, so they suggested to go and stripe and put up signage for moped parking,” Ecker said.

She said if the commission authorized striping and signage for the 27 spots, the committee would report back in a year on how it worked.

“We charge at parking spots to get turnover. This is wasted space. This gets them off the sidewalk and not using parking spots. I'm very supportive,” said commissioner Carroll DeWeese.

To questions, Ecker said motorcycles would not fit because they're too big for the spots.

Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve, with Mark Nickita and Rackeline Hoff absent.