WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH)—The City of Wichita unveiled a new downtown parking option Thursday, making five options City Council will have to choose from.

The new plan, known as Option E, would take a phased approach to paid parking. Starting with paid rates of up to $3 per hour in parking lots and garages, the city would add parking meters to streets in 2026. However, the Delano district is excluded from Option E.

The four options above, Option A, B and C, would be implemented in 2025. All of those plans have a flat rate of $0.75 per hour, with different benefits such as the first hour of free or unpaid parking in the old town area .

“Of all the options, B, C, D and E, none of them are net positive,” said Wichita Assistant City Manager Troy Anderson. “The only clearly positive option is option A.”

Option A resembles the original proposal presented to the City Council in 2019. The council will consider all five options on November 19.

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