The valet stand for the valet pilot program will be located on Bermuda Street, near Ferndale Collision and the on-street parking spaces that will be rented.
By: Mike Koury | Woodward Talk | Published May 19, 2026
FERNDALE — The city of Ferndale is moving forward with its plans for a pilot program for downtown valet parking.
Approved at its May 11 meeting, the City Council approved both the three-month pilot program and a lease agreement with Credit Union One to use its parking lot for the valet service.
With this pilot, the city will be renting five on-street parking spaces at a reduced fee on Bermuda Street south of Vester Avenue. The estimated net cost is expected to be between $7,000 to $15,000 over the three-month pilot.
“Not everyone is able to bike or walk. Not everyone can afford to ride-share a great distance depending on what they’re coming to do. So, this is one element in … (an) attempted kind of comprehensive plan to do different things based on different circumstances,” Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Jennie Beeker said during the meeting.
As part of the pilot, the city worked out a deal with Credit Union One to use its 44 parking spaces for the valet service. This agreement, which was approved by the City Council during the meeting, still needs to be approved by the credit union.
“This is a new proposal for them, and so there are some things they have to review, but we’re really grateful for their consideration in this and working with us to become a great partner for those downtown businesses,” Beeker later told the Woodward Talk.
The deal with Credit Union One is to provide the parking spots “in kind,” with Ferndale providing promotions as part of the agreement. City Manager Colleen O’Toole said these include featured logos and promotions associated with the valet stand itself, social media promotions and sponsorship of the kids zone at the Woodward Dream Cruise.
When asked by City Council member Eddie Sabatini if there were other possibilities to use the lot other than the valet service, O’Toole said the credit union at this time has not expressed comfort with that.
“The valet pilot program is really our foray into having that conversation,” she said. “I think if we can show that we’re good partners and responsibly use this property, there may be conversations that could be had about opening that up, but there did not seem to be interest in our most recent conversation around just allowing open parking in their private lot.”
The city will be monitoring how successful the pilot is over the three months based on the number of vehicles and passengers using the valet service, the time and days most used, and feedback from the businesses and community.
The program will be reviewed after the first month and that month will help the city decide the service levels for the second month. The decision to continue, cancel or adjust the pilot will be made by the end of the third month, estimated to be the end of July.
Beeker told the Woodward Talk that the DDA’s goal is to get at least 30 cars per day, but ideally closer to 50. If they get significantly fewer than that, then they could look at reducing the number of staff at the valet, but if they get more cars, then they could increase the level of service or search for additional parking space.
The valet stand will be located on Bermuda near the on-street parking. This location was chosen due to safety.
“If there’s the staging area, we don’t want to block traffic, we don’t want to limit safety access for any emergency response, and that actually also still gives good proximity to those businesses that are impacted in that quadrant,” she said. “They’ll have the valet stand there, we’ll have plenty of signage letting people know, ‘Hey, this direction.’”
The cost of using the valet service is a $10 flat rate. Beeker said this price seemed approachable for most people; it is a little more than surface lot parking but still affordable when considering the equivalent hours of parking elsewhere.
The City Council gave its approval for the pilot and lease agreement, though Sabatini voted no on the pilot and abstained on the credit union deal.
“I don’t think Ferndale is a valet town,” he said. “I can’t afford $10 valet parking when it’s $1.25 to park at The dot, but maybe it’s catering to somebody who can, and that’s fine too. If it benefits the businesses, great. I hope that it does work. I would be more comfortable if I was sure the businesses are behind this. I appreciate that the DDA has vetted it and valet has passed. I support it and root for it. I think relying on private partnerships gives me pause. As good of a community partner as they are, it’s their lot. It doesn’t feel like a permanent solution for us and our community, but hopefully I’m wrong.”
Mayor Pro Tem Laura Mikulski said she commended Credit Union One for being willing to answer the phone to work out a deal.
“It always helps to have a human-to-human conversation and to take the time and meet with us,” she said. “I think that this is a nice opportunity to at least get data and see if this is worthwhile. Maybe it’s not. I mean, at the end of the day, we don’t know until we actually see if there’s good utilization of this.”