As Redmond continues to grow and new businesses pack into downtown, an old problem has been made worse in recent months.

It’s harder than ever to find a place to park.

Redmond resident Linda Romani frequents the downtown area, both to go shopping and to find places to relax and chat. Because her husband is disabled, finding a parking spot close to their destination is often difficult.

“There are not many spaces depending on where you want to go,” Romani said.

She said it often requires driving “two to three times around the block” to find a spot.

All public parking in Redmond — both on-street and in city-owned lots — is free. And on-street parking in Redmond has no time limit, meaning people who live and work downtown can leave their cars in front of a business or home overnight or all weekend long.

That is causing problems for some downtown businesses.

At a May 9 city council meeting, the owners of Local Paws and General Duffy’s Waterhole expressed concerns about a lack of parking near their businesses, which has been exacerbated by the recent openings of Blacksmith Public House and the Sisters Smokehouse.

Owners Jessica and Mark Tiersma said they noticed a decline in customers has coincided with a decline in nearby parking.

“Our parking has overnight disappeared,” said Jessica Tiersma, co-owner of Local Paws, 435 SW Evergreen. “Customers are going back to Bend … they can’t find parking because of local businesses coming in with six spots, taking up 34 of those public parking areas next to our location.”

Rob Anderson, owner of the nearby Beyond the Ranch Antiques at 339 SW Evergreen Ave., also expressed concerns.

Anderson said he often needs space to help customers load furniture into their cars, which he is unable to do when surrounding businesses and employees take up all the nearby on-street and off-street public parking.

“Can we have just short term parking where people are taking up the spaces for eight to 10 hours at a time that are next door to the current business that needs spaces for loading?” Anderson asked. “Just a minute ago we just sold a piece of furniture and we needed room for the person to park to load up and that goes on all day long.”

Short-term parking would require some enforcement, however. Currently, the city of Redmond has no employees dedicated to that work.

Both metered parking and more stringent rules for downtown parking were considered, but not implemented, after a 2018 parking study commissioned by the Downtown Urban Renewal Advisory Committee, or DURAC. The organization is preparing to undergo another such parking study this summer.

DURAC chair Monica Huey said DURAC will consider options, but she did not expect meters would show up in Redmond anytime soon.

More stringent parking rules, however, is possible. That could include everything from 15-minute loading zone to other spots that limit parking to only a few hours at time.

Huey emphasized that either change “would be a really big step” for downtown culture and DURAC would “make sure that it’s warranted and wanted.”

The parking study that’s on the books now was meant to account for growth, but downtown Redmond has exceeded even those expectations

“The amount of growth we’ve seen in Central Oregon has been unprecedented,” said Meghan Gassner, urban renewal program analyst. “The city and policy makers continue to adapt their goals and implementation strategies to best meet the needs of our downtown community.”

According to the 2018 study, there were 598 on-street and 1,285 off-street parking spots in Redmond’s downtown core. Since then, the Centennial Parking lot and Fourth Street parking added an additional 120 spots.

But business have grown at a faster pace. Since 2018, approximately 30 new businesses have opened downtown. There has also been a 27% increase in residential population in Redmond over the last decade.

Blacksmith Public House has brought in many customers since their April 21 grand opening. Owner Michael Kosakowski has yet to hear a customer complaint about the parking situation.

“I never see any issues at all, there is plenty of parking available,” Kosakowski said. “It’s downtown, so people may have to park further down and walk a bit but there are no customer complaints from me.”

The parking study will also study pedestrian safety, as well. There have been serious accidents in that area in recent weeks and a number of close calls.

“Other things that are in place are discussions on how to make crossing the street between Fourth Street parking and the very popular Blacksmith Public House as safe as possible,” said Kathryn Osborne, who is the city council liaison for DURAC. “And then looking into most likely — via the parking study — how time limited parking could be utilized in that area.”

Despite some growing pains, a number of business owners said that a lack of parking can be a good sign, too. It means downtown Redmond is busy and more potential customers can be walking past their doors.

“It’s great to see downtown thriving with more businesses coming in,” recalled Anderson. “More shoppers and customers are coming to the businesses and all the restaurants that are opening.”