The parking landscape in downtown Lakeland has changed a bit. Drivers might notice that there are two types of parking signs downtown now — each with zone numbers — directing users to different payment apps.
The big difference is whether the lot is publicly or privately owned, and what happens if you don’t pay.
At a glance
- Free parking is still available downtown. There is no charge for first two hours of on-street parking and all city-owned lots, garages and street spaces are free after 5 p.m. Monday–Friday and all day on weekends.
- Paid parking is offered by both the city and a Tampa-based company that now manages at least four privately owned lots. You can pay for both with the ParkMobile app, but rates are higher for the private lots.
- Pay attention to signs. If you violate the rules at lots managed by Seven One Seven Parking Enterprises, your car may be immobilized or towed.
For several years, green and white signs on city streets and city-owned lots and garages have directed users to the ParkMobile app to pay for their sessions. The city of Lakeland employs four parking attendants who monitor parking and put citations in yellow envelopes under violators’ windshield wipers.
Now, new blue “Public Parking” signs have sprouted up in several private lots where the public can park — either all day or only after business hours. The signs, installed by Seven One Seven Parking Enterprises based out of Tampa, have appeared in at least four lots over the past month including:
- The former Wells Fargo parking lot at Main Street and Tennessee Avenue.
- The Colonial Square lot at Tennessee Avenue and Lemon Street.
- The lot on the west side of Florida Avenue on the property between Main Street and the CSX Railroad tracks.
- The parking lot at Kentucky Avenue and Cedar Street across from Munn Park and connected to the building that houses the Rec Room.
These lots are monitored by cameras and also incur fines for violating the rules. However, instead of civil penalties, the potential consequences include having the car “immobilized or towed at vehicle owner’s expense,” according to the signs.
Public vs. private enforcement
People who frequent downtown Lakeland may be accustomed to using the ParkMobile app to pay $1 an hour to park in a city-owned lot or garage or stay parked in a curbside space beyond the free two hours.
The city uses ParkMobile to collect and process payments; however, its parking rules are enforced by city employees.
In response to prior complaints with the Better Business Bureau, ParkMobile wrote: “Although ParkMobile is a parking payment solution chosen by the parking operator, we do not own, operate, manage, or enforce parking areas or onsite parking management. We only provide a mode for making payments…”
The city’s website explains that most parking violations incur a $25 fine that must be paid to the city within 21 days. If fines aren’t paid within 60 days, a “hold” is placed by the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles on the vehicle tag associated with the ticket.
People cannot renew their vehicle registration as long as the hold is in place, and the hold won’t be lifted until “all citations associated with the vehicle tag are paid in full to include any applicable late fees,” the city’s website says.
Things are a bit different with the private properties that have engaged Seven One Seven to manage their parking lots. In addition to collecting payments, Seven One Seven also monitors the parking spaces.
On its website, Seven One Seven explains that as part of its parking management service, it uses “the latest parking management equipment and technologies” including license plate recognition and handheld mobile enforcement.
Payment methods
Unlike city lots, patrons can only use a mobile device to pay for parking in the Seven One Seven-managed properties in Lakeland — via the app, calling a phone number or texting. There are no kiosks in the local lots at which to pay by cash or insert a credit/debit card.
The blue Seven One Seven signs encourage people to download the company’s app, but in the lower left corner they say “Powered by ParkMobile.” Entering the provided zone number on either app yields the same location and pricing — which is higher than city rates at up to $4 per hour. For the former Wells Fargo lot, the shortest time people can reserve is two hours for $8.49, including the 49-cent transaction fee.
LkldNow emailed Seven One Seven’s customer support to ask if patrons can pay through ParkMobile instead of downloading another app. The response came two days later: “Good afternoon. Yes, you may pay using Park Mobile as it is the same company who powers the 717 app.”
To dispute a parking fine, people need to contact Seven One Seven, not the businesses that own the lots.
“If you are calling to dispute a parking notice, please email your dispute with supporting documentation to support@717parking.com,” an automated message on Seven One Seven’s customer service line says. “Please note that phone calls will not be returned for parking notice disputes until an email has been received.”
Consumer complaints
It is common for businesses associated with negative experiences — like having your car towed or getting a parking ticket — to have negative reviews on sites like Yelp, where both ParkMobile and Seven One Seven have one-star ratings out of five.
Similarly, both sites have an average of one star for their reviews on the Better Business Bureau website. However, the bureau notes that to ensure fairness, customer reviews are not factored into the BBB’s ratings.
“BBB ratings represent the BBB’s opinion of how the business is likely to interact with its customers. The BBB rating is based on information BBB is able to obtain about the business, including complaints received from the public. BBB seeks and uses information directly from businesses and from public data sources,” the website says.
ParkMobile has an “A” rating from the BBB for its business practices. A look at complaints against the company shows prompt responses from ParkMobile, typically within 24 hours, with most disputes resulting in refunds to the customer.
Seven One Seven’s business practices in Tampa have earned them an “F” rating from the BBB, with the bureau citing the following:
- Failure to respond to 8 complaint(s) filed against business.
- Business has failed to resolve underlying cause(s) of a pattern of complaints.
- 7 complaint(s) filed against business that were not resolved.
- Length of time business has taken to respond to complaint(s).
On Friday, company President and CEO Jason Accardi responded to an email from LkldNow saying the allegations and complaints by reviewers on Yelp and the Better Business Bureau’s website “do not paint a fair picture of our business, or the services we provide in Tampa and other markets.”
The Better Business Bureau placed an alert on Seven One Seven Parking Enterprises, saying:
“BBB files indicate that the business has a pattern of complaints concerning Service and Billing issues. Specifically, consumers allege that they were still given a citation despite paying for parking and that the business’s kiosks were either broken, not labeled clearly or that it wouldn’t take their payment for parking.”
“In August of 2023, BBB contacted Seven One Seven Parking Enterprises, Inc. requesting information as to why the business believes the customers are filing the complaints and what actions the business has taken to help eliminate the causes of complaints. As of this date the business has not replied to this request.”
Accardi wrote in his email: “The fact that certain unnamed individuals were not happy to receive tickets does not mean that our practices are ‘predatory’ or that we ticket in an ‘aggressive’ manner, whatever that means. … Seven One Seven Parking Enterprises is a leading, and one of the largest, parking and hospitality companies in the Country, for over 30 years now, and the fact that individuals make claims from time to time is an unfortunate, but unavoidable, part of doing business at our scale.”
LkldNow reached out to Cory Petcoff, who owns three of the Lakeland properties that Seven One Seven manages, but did not get a reply. Similarly, we left messages for Bryce Philpot, who owns Colonial Square, but could not reach him.
A downtown leader’s advice
Lakeland Downtown Development Authority Director Julie Townsend posted a message on the Downtown Lakeland Facebook page warning patrons and employees not to ignore the new signs on privately owned surface lots downtown.
“To better manage parking for their own employees and customers, private property owners have engaged a private parking management company,” she wrote. “These lots ARE monitored and tickets ARE being issued for parking violators, so be aware. Even nights and weekends (when City of Lakeland parking is FREE), these private lots are charging for parking.”
Townsend added: “For years and years, we’ve enjoyed using these privately owned lots for FREE. But these property owners certainly have every right to charge for use. Wear and tear alone is an ongoing expense.”
On the Downtown Lakeland Facebook post, one person asked why downtown property owners had employed this company.
Townsend explained that the property owners are trying to ensure that the businesses that lease office space from them and their customers have a place to park.
“That said, those users are gone by 5 p.m. and, in the past, those owners did not monitor lots thereafter. They are now. And that is their right,” Townsend wrote. “They pay the taxes, the maintenance and the daily upkeep on those properties. We are going to discuss with them a better system and a better company to use to achieve their same goals that is easier for the public to use.”
Townsend said the Main Street Garage is now open to the public for $1 an hour on weekdays and free after 3 p.m. and on weekends. In addition, all city-owned lots, garages and on-street spaces are free every weekday after 5 p.m. and all day on weekends. They are identifiable as a city-owned lot with the city’s colorful swan logo.
The city has an interactive map for downtown parking.
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