St. Paul bans reselling parking permits to end practice used during Minnesota State Fair

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - For years, homeowners have turned a tidy profit selling parking on their yards during the Minnesota State Fair, but now the City of St. Paul is putting a stop to residents selling spots on the street itself.

“Those 12 days of the Fair, it fills up pretty fast,” said Andy Larson, a homeowner.

With the demand for parking during the Minnesota State Fair, the neighborhood to the east found itself with an opportunity.

“So the day passes would expire September 30 and so we thought we have all these leftover passes, maybe we could sell them to State Fair visitors,” said Larson.

Due to the increased draw of Como Park when its amusements were revamped, the area nearby went to permitted parking for residents during the summer, which includes being able to buy day passes for guests. If you had extra, it seemed to make sense to sell them to fairgoers - at least at first.

“The problem is that people began to sell more and more day passes, and it kind of defeated the purpose of the permits,” said Larson.

“This is just an effort to put the clamps on the resale of residential parking permits,” said St. Paul Council President Amy Brendmoen.

Brendmoen says the move to ban that resale all across the city is all about clarity.

“And when you’re selling them several times over the course of a day to State Fair attendees or event attendees think you’re walking a line or crossing a line in what the intent of the permits was and this just provides clarity,” she said.

Permits are to control parking congestion for residents. Selling them doesn’t really do that. Larson says the clarity makes up for the little extra change made on the side. 

“It clears up the ambiguity,” said Larson.