City of St. Joseph Will Host Information Sessions on Proposed Parking Program Changes
St. Joseph, Michigan, January 20, 2026 – The City of St. Joseph is hosting information sessions in February to encourage community members to review and share feedback on proposed changes to the Downtown Parking Program.
The proposed changes come after staff spent significant time meeting with downtown businesses throughout the summer and fall, gathering feedback on the parking program and working with the Parking Subgroup to incorporate this input into potential changes to the program.
To gather additional input, the City will host open house-style sessions for both businesses and residents at City Hall, 700 Broad St. The information sessions will take place as follows:
• Businesses – 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3 and 2-4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4
• Residents – 5-7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 9 and Tuesday, Feb. 10
During each session, attendees will have the opportunity to review the proposed parking program changes and ask questions. City staff and members of the City’s Downtown Development Authority and Parking Subgroup – both of which include representatives from downtown businesses – will be on hand to discuss the proposed changes and answer questions.
“As part of our listening tour, we reached out to downtown businesses and met with over 50 of them, asking them what they saw as the primary challenge for downtown and gathering their feedback on how best to move forward with the parking program,” said Kelly Ewalt, the City’s development director. “More than any other issue, businesses identified parking congestion as the biggest challenge.
“We took this feedback to the Parking Subgroup, which put together recommendations for how the Downtown Parking Program should change this year. We now want to share these proposed changes with the broader community and gather input before the recommendations go to the City Commission for consideration later this winter.”
The Downtown Vision Master Plan, adopted by the City Commission in 2020 following robust public engagement, recommends the City establish a strategy for paid parking in certain areas of downtown St. Joseph to help create parking turnover, better distribute parking and fund necessary maintenance and improvements.
The Parking Subgroup was created by the City Commission in partnership with the Downtown Development Authority in 2022 to implement parking recommendations found in the City’s 2020 Downtown Vision Master Plan. The Parking Subgroup’s goal is to foster a vibrant, year-round downtown district by improving access to local businesses so they can thrive.
“We believe the proposed changes to the Downtown Parking Program better align with both the goal to increase access to prime parking spots and community feedback around last year’s program,” Ewalt said.
In 2025, the City rolled out a Downtown Parking Program that included paid parking on streets and lots on the east side of Main Street, with free parking available on the west side of Main Street. Due to resident and business concerns with program scope and accessibility of pay stations, the program was paused to give City officials time to gather community feedback, work with the Parking Subgroup and recommend program changes for the 2026 season.
“The pause has been a really important opportunity for us to learn from 2025,” Ewalt said. “In addition to having meaningful conversations with downtown businesses, we’ve also expanded our Downtown Development Authority and Parking Subgroup to ensure we have the right voices around the table.”
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The City of St. Joseph is a historic town located off of I-94 between Chicago and Detroit, nestled beside the mouth of the St. Joseph River and Lake Michigan. With a population of about 7,800, the small town features a quaint downtown with local shops, historic buildings and brick streets overlooking a clear view of Lake Michigan sunsets and the iconic inner and outer lighthouses. St. Joseph is the Berrien County seat and home to the popular county-owned Silver Beach.
