The Dillon Town Council began discussing parking plans for the coming summer season at a work session Tuesday, March 25.

The council members appeared to be in agreement that the town was not ready to implement hourly daily paid parking along the marina waterfront. But the council discussed continuing the parking reservation program that it launched last year for paid amphitheater shows and whether to expand those reservations to free shows as well.

Interstate Parking mountain operations director Shelby Schwendeman told the council that the company’s programs are “customizable” to the town’s needs. She described a parking program that would run from May 23 to Sept. 30 and would include about 40% of the town’s parking along the waterfront, with the remaining 60% of parking in the town core remaining free.

Schwendeman said that Interstate Parking had designed a potential parking program that would include hourly paid parking from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. along West Lodgepole Street, in the marina lot and in the amphitheater lot.

Under Interstate Parking’s proposed plan for the daily, hourly fees, it would have been free for the first 30 minutes, then $1.25 per half hour with a daily maximum of $12 on Mondays through Thursdays. On weekends and holidays it would have been $1.25 per half hour for the first three hours, then $2.50 per half hour thereafter with a daily maximum of $15 .

But the council members said that they didn’t believe the town needs daily hourly paid parking.

“The only attraction we have in Dillon right now is the lake,” council member Kyle Hendricks said. “If we’re going to start charging for parking for that — it’s absurd. I don’t think we should be charging people, even a dollar, to come play in Dillon or come park and ride their bike or whatever it is they want to do.”

On concert nights, Interstate Parking is proposing that the part of West Lodgepole Street closest to the amphitheater and the amphitheater lot would become reservation lots, Schwendeman said. She said that reservations in those areas would cost $50 in the two weeks before a show, but would be discounted if someone purchased them further ahead of time.

While council members raised concern about Interstate Parking’s proposal that people wouldn’t be allowed to park in the amphitheater lot before 2 p.m. on concert nights, Schwendeman said that was the case last year. She said that because there was an Interstate Parking staff member monitoring the lot throughout the day, the company allowed people — such as those who wanted to use the playground there — to park there as long as they moved their vehicle by 2 p.m.

Dillon first piloted a parking reservation program two summers ago before implementing it in the amphitheater lot at paid shows last year. Schwendeman said that those who used the reservation program last year were “thankful” because it meant they didn’t have to show up hours before the show to get a good parking spot. She said they got requests to add reserved parking to free shows.

The council members discussed whether to expand parking reservations to free shows but didn’t come to a conclusion.

“It seems petty to charge for parking for a free concert,” Hendricks said.

Mayor Carolyn Skowyra added, “Then, it’s not free anymore, is it?” But Skowyra said that the town should encourage people to carpool to the free shows and suggested offering up-close parking for those who carpool.

Council member Barbara Richard said that it could be interesting to test whether reservation parking would work well on free show nights.

Also on concert nights, Interstate Parking proposed having “on-demand” or “first-come, first-serve” parking at the marina lot and the spots along West Lodgepole Street further from the amphitheater.

Unlike the reservation parking, the on-demand parking would not be booked ahead of time, but people could pay to park in these spots, Schwendeman said. She noted that last year Interstate Parking had on-demand parking in the marina lot on paid concert nights but provided parking there for free to those who were there to use the marina, rather than go to the amphitheater.

“One of the things we did here last year is we did provide anyone utilizing the marina with free parking, which was quite abused,” Schwendeman said. “Everyone said that they were going to the tiki bar, they were going on their friend’s boat. That’s what they said. That’s what we had to believe, and they walked right up to the amphitheater. So we know there is abuse with the sort of pilot program we created last year.”

Schwendeman also noted that Interstate Parking has proposed having a small section of reserved parking that those renting pontoon boats could pay to reserve at the marina lot. She said Interstate Parking also proposed a $99 season parking pass, which some council members thought might be helpful to provide access for marina users on concert nights.

Dillon marina director Craig Simson noted that when discussing the parking situation on the lakefront, the council members should not only consider the amphitheater but should also keep the marina in mind.

Some nights, like Thursday nights, there will be more than 20 boats, each with a seven or eight person crew, which go out on the marina. He said that requiring marina users to pay to park in the marina lot could create a “wedge” with some clients.

“I’m not trying to put my voice one way or another,” Simson said. “I’m just asking that the word marina be added to the conversation.”

Hendricks asked whether the marina lot could be divided on concert nights to provide part of the lot for marina users and the other part of it for concertgoers.

The parking company did not recommend any changes to Dillon’s overnight parking program.

Skowyra told town staff to move forward with charging for parking on the waterfront during paid shows and to look into a carpool program for free shows. She also directed staff to not implement daily hourly parking. She said that the council could discuss additional steps related to parking at an upcoming meeting.