A survey of Morrison business owners and managers shows most have concerns about parking, with many saying paid parking has impacted their business. The Canyon Courier surveyed most of the town businesses in this article on Jan. 17, speaking to a few others in fall 2024.
“The winter business has declined tenfold because of the parking,” said Sherri Lind, co-owner of The Cow restaurant.
The Cow has its own small parking lot, free for customers, but customers easily overflow it and park on the street where a fee is required.
“We rely on the locals and they’re not coming,” Lind said. “We tried to come up with a way to pay for parking, to validate, and there’s no way to do it.
“I get why they did it (added paid parking),” Lind added. “Cyclists would come, park, ride for six hours and take up the merchants’ parking. That’s what we were trying to avoid. But this is overkill.”
Three Morrison restauranteurs came to the town board’s Jan. 7 meeting, asking their elected leaders for help with parking.
Butch Luedtke, owner of the Morrison Inn, and Reza Ardehali, owner of Tony Rigatoni’s and the Rooftop Tavern, said paid parking is the issue, while Morrison Holiday Bar owner Dave Killingsworth said lack of parking is the problem.
Other business owners had mixed opinions, though all had some thoughts on the issue.
At Tap on the Rocks, Shauna Dincola said poor and confusing signage leads to customers getting parking tickets. The restaurant owns half its parking lot but shares the other half with the Town of Morrison. So while parking is free on one side, it’s paid on the other. Signage in the lot doesn’t make that clear, she said, and paid parking signs on the nearby street are not noticeable.
“Even though we have signs about it everywhere, people blame us when they get tickets,” she said. “The street needs to just have more signage. The signs they have are small. Make them so people can see them.”
Talai Franz, who owns Meadowsweet Gifts and Wellness, said paid parking is now a reality in many towns. It doesn’t upset her, but it does frustrate her customers.
“It’s affected my business mildly,” she said. “I hear from people all the time that they don’t come into Morrison because of the pay-for-parking. I don’t get it; it wouldn’t stop me. But I don’t let it stress me out. It’s not worth it to me.”
A shop owner who asked to remain anonymous said she lost elderly customers who couldn’t understand how to use the parking app. People can pay using a scanned code or at a kiosk. She said the paid parking is effective during the town’s busy summer weekends, but is a hit on business during the winter.
Dave Cowden of Tom’s Upholstery is also frustrated. He said his customers have repeatedly gotten parking tickets while running in to pick up an item.
Susie Britt, who runs the souvenir shop attached to and co-owned by the Morrison Inn, said she loves Morrison and enjoys working in the town. But parking is the No. 1 issue for her business.
“The townspeople may not want to hear that, but they live in a town based on tourism,” she said. “People complain about parking all the time. I just feel like as a business, we’ve been asking for more parking. But it seems like the residents get more of a vote than the business owners.”
Tom Clapp, longtime owner of Sundance Sensations, believes a combination of issues has taken a toll on his bottom line.
“This is the worst winter for business we have ever had,” he said, adding it’s “because of the parking, speeding tickets, and lack of any care or promotion from the town. I like my quaint little town. We’re funky, fun and unique. But I’ve owned a business here for 25 years, and I have zero say in what goes on.”
While the speed camera was removed late last year, Clapp said it left a lasting, negative impression on those who were fined.
Next door, Heather Nielsen at La Boutique Des Boudreaux also cited parking as an issue. From her viewpoint, it’s the lack of parking more than the fact that people now have to pay for it.
“Everybody has to pay for parking anymore, but there’s no place to park,” she said. “And they (the town) do nothing to promote the businesses. When you look at Idaho Springs, Manitou Springs, they do a lot for their town. I feel very disappointed when I look at other small towns. There’s so much potential here.”
Morrison started its paid parking program in 2021 after hearing from downtown Morrison owners who said their customers can’t find places to park. The board said then it hoped paid parking would promote turnover that would in turn help local businesses.
Under Interstate Parking’s agreement with Morrison, the town gets 50% of the net revenue. The town also gets money from parking tickets, which are $50 each.
In 2024, Morrison took in just shy of $300,000 in parking revenue, including parking fees and parking tickets, according to town documents.
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