In the fall 2022 after the success of the temporary streeteries program, the City of Raleigh made the changes permanent. Downtown tenants who face a City Street can now apply for a streetery Permit.
What is a Streetery?
A Streetery is defined by the City as: A Streetery uses on-street parking spaces and is typically located outside of a cafe or business. It provides outdoor seating for the patrons of the licensed business during its hours of operation. Outside of business hours, it extends the sidewalk, creating additional space for the public to gather and interact.
Fees
As you can see from the chart below, the fees are waived through Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and are 50% for FY 25, and full price for FY 26 and beyond. The full fee is $3000 per year.
I am glad to see that there is a fee associated with the streetery permit, as the space (currently street parking) used by the streetery is a valuable piece of public infrastructure and should be priced accordingly. The fee also ensures that the streeteries are being use and providing value to the community.
Images
At the end of June I was walking by The Morning Times and was able to capture the end of the construction of their permanent streetery. Since this coffee shop is basically my second office, I plan to spend a lot of time here enjoying the new space.
Pricing Other Public Street Uses
This annual pricing for removing street parking from the community brings up another interesting thought for me. Why don’t we pay an annual fee for a driveway access permit on a public street?
It seems to me that a driveway access permanently removes what could otherwise be public street parking, so why is the community not compensated? The annual driveway permit fee might be low (or zero) where demand/value for the street space is low, but that demand and value is likely to change over time and the permit fee should/would be able to change with the demand and reflect a price increase. I think the Streetery Permit sets a strong president for this pricing mechanism.
What do you think of streeteries and should we pay an annual driveway permit fee? Let me know in the comments below.
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