ZELIENOPLE — Residents and business owners may see a change in parking meter time limits.

Borough Police Chief Jim Miller has been leading a survey to gather input from local business owners on parking enforcement.

He said as a result of speaking to the 36 businesses, all metered parking spaces may be increased from two hours to four soon with borough council approval.

“I expect with four hours, we won’t have as many violations, which is the goal,” Miller said. “For some reason, the five-dollar ticket really upsets people.”

About 145 parking violations were reported in January.

Miller said he eventually would like to see the traditional pole meters eliminated.

“The idea behind restrictive parking is to have them (spaces) open for patrons,” Miller said. “I would say we won’t have anywhere near that amount. I have seen most people cooperate.”

Miller said the addition of the planned municipal parking lot and two parking kiosks should also help with parking issues.

The parking lot, planned for between Main and South Clay Streets will have 111 spaces for people to park in between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“They (people) can park there all day as long as they pay their 25 cents for every 30 minutes,” Miller said.

Malfunctioning and broken meters are also a problem when it comes to parking enforcement, he said.

Miller said businesses can also self-police how long some cars park in their spaces.

There are three potential spots where traditional enforcement could be problematic for the four-hour parking plan. Miller said he would offer businesses in these problem areas a webcam for their buildings.

“If we get a complaint about a certain individual parking too long, we can use the webcam to beam it back to the (police) station and keep an eye on that vehicle,” he said.

Another plan to ward off lengthy parking is to increase fines.

Miller said the first offense would be a $25 fine and would go up $25 for each fine for repeat offenders.

While an ordinance is needed for the change, Miller said the borough can try this on a temporary basis.

“If it doesn’t work in a year, we can always go back,” he said.

Parking will be discussed at the next borough council meeting on Feb. 29.