Towing, Riverfront Park among items discussed in city work session
Published 6:00 am Sunday, February 2, 2025
“My opinion is, we are taking a hit.”
This is how Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott described the current towing situation on Thursday during the city government’s annual strategic goal planning and special work session, held at the Bowling Green Ballpark.
The meeting allowed city officials to get updates and discuss priorities for the coming year, although not votes are taken.
“We have a stigma that’s real,” Alcott told commissioners and city officials. “The stigma is that towing is negative, and it’s hurting our image.”
Many property owners across Bowling Green have enlisted towing services in recent years, especially in the downtown area, to deal with vehicles that park illegally. The increased towing has sparked numerous complaints.
Various guidelines for towing are set in the city’s code of ordinances, with the most recent ordinance passed in 2022. Under that ordinance, the maximum amount a towing company can charge to retrieve a vehicle is $175, which includes the first 24 hours of storage for the vehicle.
If a car is in a parking lot and on the tow truck, a $100 charge can paid to release the car. Maximum storage charges stand at $35 per day and an “after-hours gate fee” of $25 is in place for cars retrieved before or after normal business hours (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) Monday through Sunday.
Speaking in a “for instance,” Alcott said if a large event is going on downtown, organizers could possibly lease out parking lots and add in parking costs to the price of tickets.
“Right now, we’re at this inconvenience of people that either can’t get through on a parking app or they don’t have the skills to get through a parking app,” Alcott said.
He said that while he would like to find a method that is a “win-win” for towing companies and vehicle owners, he isn’t sure yet what that would look like and is open to exploring the topic.
City Manager Jeff Meisel said Thursday that aside from working with property owners, the city commission could consider lowering the $175 fee. Speaking from personal experience, Meisel said he had to get his car towed to a repair shop and the cost was $85.
Meisel said a lower fee could “soften the blow” for people who get towed.
However, Meisel said he believes things have gotten a bit better with the public’s knowledge of where to park.
“We have put out a lot of maps, a lot of social media on this,” he said.
City Attorney Hillary Hightower agrees things have gotten better, but said that having lease agreements with lots for certain events would likely confuse visitors especially, she said, when the city has “just now gotten to the point where people are figuring out you have to look for the signs.”
Alcott questioned whether the city could mandate that towing from a lot only happen after a certain amount of time had elapsed.
But Hightower said the city would have no control over delaying the towing process.
“It’s private property, they have a right to tow,” she said. “That’s not any different than, if I have a trespasser on my property, (the city) telling me I have to give them 30 minutes to get off.”
Riverfront Park also saw attention Thursday as Brent Childers, head of Neighborhood and Community Services, updated officials on the park’s progress.
Three phases of Riverfront Park are currently in design. Phase one — which consists of a boat ramp, a temporary parking lot, some walking paths and several other amenities — is currently in the final design stages and is expected to go to bid this fall.
“This is going to be the first piece of construction down there that people are going to see,” Childers said.
Childers told the Daily News that early design work has begun on phase two, which sits behind the phase one area and will include restrooms, a city lookout and destination playgrounds.
Riverfront Park’s journey to reality is outlined in the Riverfront Park Master Plan, which was unveiled last January. Since then, the city has received funding for a whitewater park on the Barren River.
Childers said this means part of the waterfront will be reworked in phase three to have a gradual descent to the river. Childers said the whitewater park is expected to be up and running by 2028, with enhanced river access coming at that time as well.