To the dismay of many Fremont residents, business owners and the Fremont Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Department of Transportation has decided to install parking meters in the neighborhood.

The department presented their final plan meant to create more turn over and parking availability in the Fremont business district last week.

Surprised when the press contacted her Thursday morning before receiving the press release due to be sent later that afternoon of the final decision, Jessica Vets, executive director of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce shared great regret with the department's decision.

"In a final insult to Fremont, Seattle Department of Transportation had a private press conference with the major newspapers in Seattle in the morning before sending the plan to the chamber in the afternoon," said Vets. "It is this type of calculated dishonesty that is making Seattleites grow weary of dealing with city government."

With the final plan, paid parking will be in effect from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday at a rate of $1.50 an hour.

Residential Parking Zone signs will be installed on only one side of residential streets (the other side will remain unrestricted) with two-hour parking allowed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for non-permit holders and from 8 p.m. to midnight with no non-permit holder parking allowed on Monday through Saturday.

After many meetings with concerned residents and businesses of Fremont, the city created two drafts of the parking assessment that incorporated public comment and suggestions, mainly not to install the meters.

The transportation department's final draft includes parking changes, such as two-hour paid parking in Fremont's retail core-about 13 block faces or 115 spaces of the areas 700 spaces; time-limit signs outside Fremont's retail core and Residential Parking Zones on streets north and east of the business district during daytimes and evenings.

Following the city's 2001 parking study that recommended a series of "parking management techniques" to address the lack of parking in downtown Fremont, both the neighborhood and the city adopted the Fremont Parking Plan with its aim to find solutions to create a better parking system.

The city created a Fremont On-Street Parking assessment plan that included unwanted parking meters.

Based on studies that showed hourly parking signs are not very effective, Mary Catherine Snyder, project manger for the Fremont On-Street Parking Plan Assessment, said new monitored meters would help encourage people to follow parking rules.

The department considers implementation of parking management changes when the use of on-street parking spaces reach 75 percent or higher, which now occurs on some blocks. There are higher user rates at lunchtime while other blocks have a 90 to 140 percent utilization rate, Rick Sheridan, transportation department spokesman, previously told the Ballard News-Tribune.

Snyder explained that the Residential Parking Zones will increase the reliability of finding parking spots for residents and decrease the amount of spaces that are taken up in the residential areas by commuters who park in the area when they catch buses along Aurora. It could also restrict evening visitors of various restaurants and bars in Fremont.

All unpaid hourly signs will not be removed. Some will still be in effect from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday in some areas. Specifically those near restaurants will have a time limit that will continue until 10 p.m.

Seen as a small victory for some in the Fremont neighborhood, there will be no paid parking in front of PCC Natural Market and no "employee" 10-hour spaces, which a previous parking plan called for.

A few additions will be the change of 30-minute Truck Load only signs to 30-minute Commercial Vehicle Loading Zones (requiring payment from non-truck licensed commercial vehicles) and new late night taxi zones installed near several restaurants.

Planning for the installation of about 13 to 20 pay stations is expected to start in February 2009, however in January prior to the installation, sidewalks will be marked to denote kiosk and sign locations and temporary blue signs will be installed in advance to notify area parkers of coming changes.

The Fremont Chamber is encouraging people to write to city council members in opposition to the meters and with city's planning and decision making process.

"Seattle Department of Transportation is not working for the people of Seattle," said the Fremont Chamber of Commerce. "They are in lock step with a Political Regime that is working to its own agenda."

To see a diagram of the final plan or for more information on the Fremont On-Street Parking assessment plan visit "http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/cp_fremont.htm" www.seattle.gov/transportation/parking/cp_fremont.htm.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 783-1244 or allisone@robinsonnews.com.