The eagerly anticipated parking relief promised to Coeur d’Alene residents will begin amid the downtown area’s busiest time of year.

While crowds will still pack the area in preparation for the upcoming Coeur d’Alene Festival of Lights next Friday, the tradition of event parking will abandon city lots like Marley’s ghost.

“We’re looking to step away from the event parking because we have the technology out there now,” City Administrator Troy Tymesen said.

Tymesen said drivers will now pay only for the hours they’re parked, rather than half-day or all-day parking as the only options.

The new parking fees, included in an omnibus fee package adopted this week by the City Council, eliminate all-day and half-day parking prices for the Holiday Lighting Parade and Ceremony, August’s Art on the Green, June’s Ironman and June’s Car d’Lane. Daylong and half-day pricing will be replaced with the standard hourly parking rates drivers normally pay.

Tymesen said all-day parking and half-day parking was a deterrent to drivers unwilling to pay for space time they wouldn’t use, resulting in unused slots during otherwise-packed events. He added that while event parking made sense in the past, technology and additional space from the parking garage give the city the ability to charge drivers only for the time they use, rather than overcharge for time not spent in a city stall.

“We believe we’re in the right spot with the equipment we have and the Coeur d’Alene Avenue parking garage,” Tymesen said. “[The garage] has two hours free, and the event parking will just be hourly parking.”

The return to a per-hour pay structure for these events applies to the Coeur d’Alene Avenue parking garage, the McEuen parking garage, the Independence Point lot, the Museum parking lot and the Memorial Field public lot.

The lone event parking exception that will remain in effect will be during Fourth of July festivities. Drivers will pay $7 per space for all-day parking on city lots during Independence Day. This includes parking in the Coeur d’Alene Avenue parking structure, where the event parking fee was previously $10. Proceeds from parking revenue on the Fourth goes to support the annual fireworks fund.

The changes to event parking represent the first step in the fee adoption, which came after a public outcry over the summer signaled a disconnect between City Hall and its citizenry. Impassioned pleas by residents to help low-income households were met with resistance from elected officials. The standoff finally subsided with an August compromise, spearheaded by Mayor Steve Widmyer, that led to Tuesday’s vote.

The next step in lightening the load for locals could arrive around the first of the year, when City Hall hopes to have local parking passes for city and county drivers. Once its infrastructure is established, Coeur d’Alene residents can pay an annual $10 per vehicle to park at the Memorial Field public parking lot and the McEuen parking structure. Kootenai County residents living outside Coeur d’Alene can pay $20 for the same parking privileges.

While monthly McEuen parking structure passes will increase from $20 to $35 plus a processing fee, secured parking at the Coeur d’Alene Avenue garage will drop from $75 to $50 per month.

The council voted unanimously to approve the adoption.