Local

Street parking rates near Climate Pledge Arena to rise during events

SEATTLE — If you drive to a Seattle Kraken game this fall, you’ll pay more to park on the street near Climate Pledge Arena.

On Monday, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved a plan for special event street parking rates.

To help free spots for neighbors and people spending a couple of hours eating out, the city plans to raise street parking rates during arena events with more than 10,000 people.

Seattle Department of Transportation officials said after 5 p.m. on big event nights, drivers will pay $3 per hour for the first two hours and $8 per hour after that.

The City Council authorized SDOT to charge up to $12 per hour, but city officials said they don’t plan to do that when the arena opens this fall.

“Parking is all about supply and demand, and what we really want to do is make sure people have a way to access the neighborhood,” said Ethan Bergerson of SDOT.

The Uptown Alliance neighborhood group had asked for street parking during events to be as expensive as private lots so that drivers don’t keep circling the block and clogging streets.

“We’re not there,” said Deborah Frausto of the Alliance about the city’s proposed rates. “The private lots are still going to be more expensive — no doubt about it. But it will make people think twice about the convenience of being able to go and park and not worry about it.”

New bike lanes are going up near the arena, and the Kraken will encourage fans to take transit by including passes with tickets.

The team is asking fans who drive to park in garages downtown and jump on the monorail for a 90-second ride.

“It’s going to be a hot mess, but people are still going to come,” said Jeremy Moller just after he parked in Uptown.

He predicted most hockey fans will drive and said the city’s planned event rates don’t sound too bad.

“I think eight bucks an hour is a good deal for game parking. If you think about going to a Seahawks game or something, it can be 40 or 50 bucks for the day,” he said.

In fact, a city analysis predicted off-street event parking around Climate Pledge Arena will range between $20 and $80.

This change does not affect street parking near the SODO stadiums. And when there are no big events here, parking in Uptown will still be about 50 cents an hour.