ALPENA — The wheels have been set in motion for a possible move toward paid parking in downtown Alpena.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Alpena Downtown Development Authority discussed the need for more parking and how pay-to-park setups could lead to a parking structure being constructed.

The move from free to paid parking won’t happen overnight, as it will take at least several months for a plan of action to be devised. Once that is done, the Alpena Municipal Council would have the final say on whether or not to make the change.

DDA President Mike Mahler said the topic of paid parking has been considered on and off over the years, but, in that time, the number of people visiting downtown has increased significantly. He said the time to act is now.

“We need to get this process underway, because we need a garage,” he said. “We need some type of parking structure. We are going to move forward and figure out a plan of attack. With the parking issues we have downtown, I think it would be wise to be better prepared for the future, when we have more development.”

Griffin James, who owns the Local Basket Case downtown, said the parking issues continue to manifest and delaying change would only cause headaches later.

“This problem isn’t going away, so I’m glad we are going to get on it,” James said.

Mahler said one of the first items of business will be to decide where parking will be downtown, and where a future garage could be built. He said there could be a combination of methods used to collect money from motorists.

“We need to draw boundaries where the free parking will be and where does it make sense to have it paid,” Mahler said. “Then, the areas where we determine should have paid parking, we have to determine which areas lend themselves best for meters, like on streets, and kiosks for in parking lots. We have to get our hands around all of that.”

Mahler said there has been little consideration of what the charge for parking will be and how long a fee might allow a motorist to park, but he said those questions will be answered in the coming months. He said meters that can use features like Apple Pay, credit card readers, and other technology — in addition to coin slots — that would make it simple for users.

It isn’t yet known how much it would cost DDA or the City of Alpena to install the needed infrastructure or where that money would come from. Mahler said there is a chance a private corporation may want to place the meters and build a garage.

“We have some ideas now, and we’ll do what makes the most sense,” he said. “This is a big issue to roll out. That being said, we don’t want to keep kicking the can down the road. We’re going to have to make some hard decisions, but it needs to be done.”

Parking is sure to continue to be in high demand downtown, as businesses and activities increase. An increase in the number of events and entertainment also increases the need for more parking near the heart of downtown.

“We’re at the point we can’t wait any longer,” Mahler said. “We’ve all seen the progress we’ve made downtown and we plan on having more. This is something we believe we have to get done.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.