An apartment for your car: parking in Iowa City

by Morgan Ottier

Ryan Fisher’s mother waited in a sweltering hot line all day August 9 so Ryan could have a spot to park his car in for the year. Fisher, a 22-year-old student, explained his mother needed to do this for him because he was traveling that day.

“It’s first come, first serve…if you’re not there that day waiting in that long line you probably won’t get a spot.”

Fisher paid $920 for his spot at Key West Apartments on South Gilbert St for the entire year. The apartments and the rental parking spaces are managed by Apartments Near Campus.

“I need the spot so I can drive home to Illinois conveniently so I expected to pay,” Fisher explained.

Underground parking is the only renter parking available for Fisher’s building, but first time renters should realize all of their options.

Students can choose to purchase parking from their rental company, one spot or multiple parking spots may be included in their monthly rental fee, or they can choose to look for free spots or street spots, in which case they should be aware of ticketing and time of day that they are allowed to park.

Brenna Derksen, a 22-year-old student pre-med student who cannot afford the extra thousand dollars to park her car, decided against renting a spot even though she drives her car every day.

“I can get my car towed eight times before it would equal the amount I’d have to pay for an outdoor spot never mind an underground spot.”

Derksen’s apartment is managed by Apartments Downtown and the building on South Gilbert St, named The Villas, offers outdoor parking for $750 for the entire year. She parks in the rental spots outside her apartment that she knows have not been purchased by anyone. Derksen’s strategy has worked out fine so far.

“I have only been towed once this year. It was during the few days that people spend in line fighting for a spot . . . probably because the rental companies want to prove how important they think it is to rent a spot from them.”

Derksen explained that her roommate rented a parking spot last year while living at Cornerstone Apartments on Dubuque St., but did not this year for the same reason as Derksen.

An employee of Apartments Downtown, who would rather remain anonymous, explained the dates to begin renting parking spots begin around move in times in August. If renters decide not to rent parking, they might be out of a solid parking option.

“The price for parking in some places can fluctuate [from year to year],” explained the employee. “But this is obviously due to the demand in certain buildings related to the amount of parking spaces offered.”

Apartments Downtown also claimed that those who think they are “beating the system” by parking in empty spots or possibly other people’s spots, may be fooling themselves,

“We send people out all the time to check lots and make sure no one is parking in un-rented spaces . . . and chances are, other renters may not be happy about it either. They have a right to get illegal parkers towed as well.”

The Apartments Downtown employee also claims that the management company will warn tenants with a reminder on their windshields that they will be towed if they continue to park illegally.

Towing is done through an Iowa City Police towing phone number, (319) 356-5275, and Big 10 University Towing usually handles the job.

“Roughly half the calls we get are for renter parking spots and the caller specifies if they want the person in their spot to be ticketed or towed,” explains Sgt. Troy Kelsay of the Iowa City Police. “Sometimes property managers or on-site managers call, but it’s usually renters.”

Big 10 University Towing charges $70 for a standard tow, $15 per day of outside storage, and $25 per day of inside storage.

For Apartments Downtown, an Assigned Parking Agreement must be signed by renters on the date of renting their spot to receive a parking sticker, which assigns the vehicle to its proper stall or outdoor space. On the Agreement it states that non-tenants must pay an additional $120 above the actual cost.

“The additional $120 is to ensure that tenants have priority in purchasing a spot,” explained the Apartments Downtown employee.

The Agreement from Apartments Downtown also explains that motorcycles, scooters and mopeds must purchase their own parking spaces and are not to share a stall or spot with another vehicle of any kind.

A section on the Parking Agreement is devoted to parking stickers and their proper use, which is how Apartments Downtown enforces their parking regulations.

It’s important to pay attention to parking agreement regulations for this specific purpose because, in the case of Apartments Downtown, if a person’s sticker is located in an incorrect area on their car, they are subject to towing just as an illegal parking would be.

Not all management companies issue the same rules when it comes to parking.

Tim Furman, manager of Cruise Properties at 2700 E. Washington St. in Iowa City, explains that most of his units have one to two free parking spaces that are basically paid for within the monthly rent instead of in one lump sum.

“Several properties have extra spaces that we rent out for the year and no one is required to buy extra spaces if they don't want to.” Furman explains. He goes on to explain that like most rental companies “spaces are leased on a first-come, first-served basis but with priority being given to people who have already lived or are living at the property.”

There is no deadline to rent a spot under Cruise Properties but all the spaces are usually rented before leases start in August. If someone wants to purchase parking later in the year, which Furman says rarely happens,

“I just pro-rate the rent for the remaining time meaning, if someone rented a space in November that normally cost $600 I would only charge them $450 because three months had already passed.”

Like Apartments Downtown, all towing is done through the Iowa City Police towing line. But Furman explains that Cruise Properties only tows people parked in spots that violate city code, like in front of dumpsters or no parking signs:

“It’s the job of the renter who’s spot is being parked in to tow that person . . . for other violations, Cruise Properties tries to give a few written warnings.”

A little differently from Apartments Downtown, Furman explains he will sign parking leases with non-tenants after communicating with his tenants and making sure they don’t want to purchase them. This is done at no extra cost.

Cruise Properties also finds stickers to be more of a hassle than a help, so he trusts his tenants to work out parking situations on their own.

Public parking lots and garages around Iowa City are another option for monthly, quarterly, or annual permits. Some public lots who offer this option are: the Chauncey Swan parking garage on Washington St, the Court Street Transportation Center, or outdoor lots at City Hall or the Recreational Center.

Prices for these lots and garages are comparable to any apartment rental management company with annual fees ranging from $684 for an outdoor spot to $855 or $912 for a parking garage spot.

Beth Montgomery, the parking customer service representative at the City of Iowa City Parking office, explains that it may be more difficult to reserve one of these spots then it is through an apartment management company.

Montgomery claims that to reserve a spot, people should get on the wait list five to six months prior to need.