Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation releases ‘How to pay’ video

The Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation must have been reading my mind. I have been a little confused about the new parking pay machines installed in the eight parking lots serving Chestnut Hill’s commercial district. In an effort to make paying easier, the Parking Foundation has released a “How to Pay” video on YouTube. 

This video helped me understand clearly that parking overnight is NOT free in Chestnut Hill’s parking lots. If you arrive at 10 p.m. and want to park for two hours it will run you the standard rate of 25 cents per 15 minutes. The only break you can get is that you can park from 7 p.m. – 8 a.m. for a flat fee of five-dollars.  

The parking lots were “free” for customers for the past two years. Local businesses were asked to help pay for the lots maintenance but last November the Parking Foundation’s John Ingersoll told NewsWorks that not enough merchants, he said, are complying with the foundation’s assessed fees because they either aren’t willing to or aren’t able given the economic climate. “When we got into this voluntary system we we’re hopeful it would work,” said Ingersoll. “The system is a bit flawed.”

There are eight parking lots with the kiosks:

Lot #2 on East Evergreen Avenue (behind Bank of America)
Lot #3 on East Evergreen Avenue (behind Wachovia)
Lot #4 on East Highland Avenue (behind Hirshorn Co.)
Lot #5 at 8300 Germantown Avenue (next to PNC Bank)
Lot #6 on West Highland Avenue (next to Valley Green Bank)
Lot #9 on 8600 Germantown Avenue (behind Citizens Bank)  entrance on Hilltop Road via Rex Avenue
Lot #10 on Bethlehem Pike (next to C.H. Physical Therapy Center)
Lot #12 on West Evergreen Avenue (at R8 – Chestnut Hill West Station)