Correction: Stafford to lease 10 parking spaces for commuters

Taxpayers are about to give the owner of a shopping center in Stafford County about $1,300 $24,000 to lease 10 parking spaces over the course of six months.

The George Washington Regional Commission will pay $1 per space, per workday to lease at the Claiborne Run Shopping Center, located at 1 Jadip Lane in Falmouth.

It’s an effort to increase the number of parking spaces made available across the region for commuters to use. Leasing the spaces is significantly cheaper than building new commuter parking spaces or new commuter parking garages, which could cost up to $24,000 per parking space, said Stafford County spokeswoman Andrew Spence.

The county will use funds from the George Washington Regional Commission to pay for the leased spaces over the course of the next six months. The county will lease five fewer spaces than it did last year since counts show fewer people are using them.

County documents state how the spaces work:

Overnight parking shall only be permitted for the vanpool.

Owner [of the shopping center] shall mark the parking spaces with a green circle that is reasonably identifiable during both the day and night.

Any vehicle utilizing a parking space shall be identified by a green parking permit, placed on the rear view mirror of each vehicle, to indicate that the vehicle is part of the GWRC program.

No vehicle shall park in any parking space without displaying a parking permit.

Vehicles utilizing a parking space without a parking permit shall be towed at the vehicle owner’s expense.

The Stafford Board of Supervisors will vote on the measure at its 3 p.m. meeting Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020, the first of the New Year.