The Vineyard City Council unanimously approved a resolution in a special session Tuesday night to remove signage restricting overnight parking on 300 West and Vineyard Frontage Road, allowing people to park for free.

Parking has been a longstanding issue in the high-density neighborhood that the city has attempted to address. The latest policy, implemented in 2024, required residents to purchase a city permit for $5 a month, or $60 a year, to be able to park overnight. Vehicles parked without the pass from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. were booted.

Councilman Jacob Wood, a 24-year-old who campaigned on addressing parking issues, said at Tuesday’s meeting that in November 2024, approximately 200 residents were booted and forced to pay $75 fees for parking on the street without a city pass.

“The vast majority of those impacted were young adults, working families, students and low-income residents,” Wood said. “Many had no idea that city parking pass even existed.”

He launched a petition to fix the parking issues, which he said garnered 400 signatures and prompted the city to stop enforcing the policy for much of last year.

The policy change had the support of the entire council.

Councilman Parker McCumber said he was not in support of the government “squeezing” the citizens for “a few bucks” and said the previous parking rules became “especially abhorrent” to him when he learned the cost of tickets and boots were not paying the administration costs for the program.

He added that the policy should not result in vehicles being left in a spot for a long-term basis because other city code prevents that.

“Allowing public parking on the city street doesn’t move or replace other existing code,” McCumber said.

Councilman Ezra Nair said he used to live in high-density housing in Vineyard and dealt with towing issues, and that he was happy to remove restrictions.

“I’m very glad to be able to help those in these high-density homes to make official this process,” Nair said.

A measure was also considered Tuesday to remove overnight parking permits in The Springs single-family home neighborhood near 100 W. and 47o North.

The council voted to continue the measure for three weeks, while the city sends out a survey to determine what residents of the neighborhood preferred.