Poulsbo Council approves paid parking in Anderson Parkway

Published 1:30 am Thursday, April 16, 2026

The Poulsbo City Council approved at its April 15 meeting to implement paid parking in the Anderson Parkway lot as early as June 1.

The vote passed 6-1 with Councilmember Doug Newell providing the sole no vote.

The program framework consists of designated paid parking locations within Anderson Parkway only, and not in other areas of downtown Poulsbo, as previously discussed. Rates will be $3/hour during peak season (April 15-Oct. 15) and $1/hour during non-peak season (Oct. 16-April 14). The time limits of paid parking will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., six days a week (excluding major holidays), meaning there will be one day of grace. It is still to be determined which day of the week will be the grace day. Employee parking, which consists of 249 spaces, will be charged to the employer at $10/month per employee, city documents say.

Revenue generated from paid parking will be reinvested in downtown Poulsbo, including parking enforcement, maintenance of existing parking infrastructure, signage, employee parking, public safety and creating parking capacity by researching, designing and building parking solutions, such as a parking garage, parking shuttle and/or other transportation or nonmotorized alternatives, per documents. Staff will work with the members of the Senior Center to design a program for their parking use.

“This is for the future. Downtown parking has been a problem for years. This council is finally attempting to do something meaningful about it and make some improvements. We would be delinquent if we did not address the growth projections,” Councilmember Gary McVey said.

Councilmember Rick Eckert echoed similar sentiments. “I believe we’ve come to the best solution we can. If we as a council don’t take a step forward in this, we are just not doing our job. This has been studied long enough. We’ve got to move forward.”

Newell brought forward an amendment to the motion that involved providing free parking in Anderson Parkway to Poulsbo residents, as well as changing the peak season from Memorial Day to Labor Day and only enforcing paid parking on weekends in the non-peak season. The amendment failed to pass.

“We absolutely know demand is seasonal. Our solution should align with this reality,” Newell said.

Councilmember Michael Fitzpatrick, who was recently elected in 2025, said he realizes most community members are opposed to paid parking, but reiterated that the details of the program can be changed over time if certain components aren’t working well.

“There are things the public has asked for…that are not in the resolution tonight. There are things that I have advocated for to this council that are not in the resolution tonight,” he said.

“I’m supportive of this program because I have full confidence in the people who are administering it, which thankfully are not us (the council). Even if the parking program in the resolution tonight is not the most optimal, that’s ok because it can grow and change over time. (The) parking program is a starting point, not an ending point. It gets a program up and running so that we can improve it over time,” Fitzpatrick concluded.

The council previously adopted a resolution in 2025 establishing a phased approach to downtown parking management, including signage, employee parking, enforcement, and paid parking to occur in summer 2026. The city has implemented the initial phases of that direction during 2025 and early 2026, per documents.