"Scarcity and availability exist side-by-side, often within the same block." That sentence comes from the Parking Analysis and Management Study that Walker Consultants presented to the Kensington Mayor and Town Council on October 21. It explains more about the town center than any count of spaces.
The study counted 2,895 parking spaces in and around the commercial core. On the busiest day the consultants observed, fewer than half were in use. Across the observation periods, systemwide occupancy ran from 28% on a Wednesday evening to 45% on a Wednesday afternoon. Anyone who has circled Howard Avenue on a Saturday knows that number doesn't match what it feels like. The study's explanation is that Kensington's parking problem is about the clock. Where you park matters less than when you arrive and whether anyone is enforcing the limits at that hour.
Who owns the 2,895 spaces
Most of Kensington's parking isn't public. Private lots hold 1,728 spaces, about 60% of the total. The curb holds 953, and the six publicly available lots hold just 214. So the spaces drivers notice first, at the curb and in shopping center lots, are mostly the ones the Town doesn't control. The Town's role, the report notes, extends past its own lots to regulating and enforcing parking on Town-controlled streets.
That enforcement has a short workday. Posted time limits end at 5:00 or 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and don't apply on weekends. In practice, enforcement stops earlier. The Town's single Code Enforcement Officer spends about 20% of their time on parking and finishes those duties in the late afternoon. Nearly everything else in the study follows from that schedule.
What happens after 4 p.m.
On Wednesday, May 13, the consultants watched the town change between afternoon and evening. Commuters, office workers and medical patients left, and the lots emptied. Public lot occupancy fell from 58% to 14%, and private lots dropped from 54% to 30%. The MTA commuter lots and the Northside carpark fell below 30%.
Over the same hours, the four-hour curb spaces went from 65% to 84% full. The report says the change came after the enforcement window closed, around 4:00 p.m.
| Wednesday, May 13 | Afternoon | Evening |
|---|---|---|
| Town's public lots | 58% | 14% |
| Private lots | 54% | 30% |
| Four-hour curb spaces | 65% | 84% |
| All on-street spaces | 25% | 29% |
The evening crunch was concentrated on a few blocks. Kensington Parkway between Frederick and Kent Streets reached 100% occupancy, and so did a segment of Montgomery Avenue, 14 and 15 spaces respectively. On Armory Avenue near Howard Avenue and Reindhart Park, occupancy rose from roughly 50 to 60% in the afternoon to between 70% and 100% in the evening. The report links that rise to Frankly Pizza. The one-hour spaces on Howard Avenue filled completely.
Two private lots ran opposite to the rest of town. The Kensington Crossing lot and the Johnson's Shopping Center lots, front and rear at 10307 Kensington Parkway, stayed between 89% and 95% full that evening. The study connects that to restaurant customers at Marathon Deli and Buffalo Wild Wings and to evening crowds at Baby Cat Brewery. The study calls it an "inversion trend, where certain commercial lots fill as others empty." The most popular places to go at night sit right where curb and lot demand overlap, and the Town's emptiest lots aren't far away.
Saturday adds the market
On weekdays, evenings are the problem. On Saturdays, the pressure starts earlier in the day. During the Saturday, May 16 count, on-street occupancy hit its highest level of the study. Four-hour spaces were 84% full, two-hour spaces 52%, and the one-hour spaces 100%.
Part of the cause is the Kensington Farmers' Market, held every Saturday year-round from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the historic train station, 3701 Howard Avenue. The study found that reserving the MARC lot for the market removed public parking at the busiest time of the week while the market itself drew more cars. Spillover showed up on Fawcett Street and Carroll Place. The Town's public lots, meanwhile, were 24% full that Saturday afternoon.
Saturday evening shifted toward Kent Street. Westbound Kent Street was 8% full in the afternoon and 62% full by evening. The study links the jump to Baby Cat Brewery and nearby businesses, and it notes that once cars park on both sides, Kent Street "essentially becomes a one-lane street." Johnson's Shopping Center's front lot held at 103% that evening, and Kensington Crossing at 88%.
How long cars stay
Occupancy shows how full a block is. Turnover shows whether the same cars are sitting there all day. The report treats four or more vehicles per space per business day as healthy for commercial curb parking. Howard Avenue came in at 2.43 to 3.43. The four-hour stretch of Kensington Parkway managed only 0.43, which means most spaces held a single car for much of the day. Fawcett Street had the longest midweek stays, averaging up to 3.23 hours, and 31% of vehicles stayed past the limit. On Saturday, Armory Street southbound averaged 3.91 hours. The study calls that "a behavior measure rather than a violation," because limits aren't enforced on weekends. The Town hired Walker in early 2026, and the turnover counts were taken on June 3 and June 6.
This is why the study concludes that the town's problem is "a distribution, timing, and management problem more than a system-wide parking supply shortage." A full block on Kensington Parkway reflects long stays and no evening enforcement. The town isn't out of spaces.
Where the empty spaces are
The study says the Town's public capacity, including the Town Hall and MARC lots, "is not consistently visible or promoted." Explore Kensington lists three free public options:
- Town Hall, 3710 Mitchell Street. The study's walkshed map shows that from this lot, much of the commercial core and many main destinations are within a 10-minute walk.
- Kensington Train Station, 10417 Howard Avenue. On weekdays this is commuter parking. The Maryland Transit Administration lists 64 spaces at the station plus 50 at Town Hall and says station parking is "typically full early in the morning."
- The public lot at St. Paul Street and Metropolitan Avenue.
Explore Kensington also notes that street parking has "no time limitations on weekends." On the Saturday evening the consultants counted, the Town Office lot was under 27% full while Mitchell Street nearby reached 75%.
What the study recommends, and what's still undecided
The plan's guiding idea is to manage the parking Kensington already has before building more or charging for it. The report says this matches the community's wish to keep Kensington walkable, and it states plainly that "the data does not support systemwide paid parking." Each recommendation targets one of the problems above:
- Fixing the 4 p.m. gap. Standardize weekday time limits to 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., shift enforcement hours to match, and evaluate hiring a part-time officer. First-time non-safety violations would get warnings.
- Freeing up spaces held all day. Change selected four-hour spaces on Kensington Parkway and Fawcett Street to two hours, keeping four-hour limits where longer stays make sense.
- Showing drivers where the empty lots are. One unified parking brand, coordinated wayfinding signs, and a mobile-friendly parking map linked from the Town and Explore Kensington websites.
- Quick stops. A 15-minute pickup and drop-off space on Howard Avenue.
- Kent Street. A staged intervention with 90 days of monitoring.
- Borrowing private lots. Shared-parking pilots, with St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Brookewood School and the Jubilee Association of Maryland site named as early candidates, pending outreach to the owners.
All of these are recommendations to the Council. The Town created a Parking Task Force in 2026, and the study was written in response to its request for "actionable, data-driven recommendations" that a small town government could manage. As of this week, the Town's minutes and recordings page has the October 21 audio but approved minutes only through September 16. The next Council meeting is Wednesday, November 18, and its agenda is due by 4:00 p.m. the Monday before.
The new lot on Montgomery Avenue
Much of the plan depends on a lot that isn't open yet. The Town bought the former M&T Bank drive-through at 10415 Montgomery Avenue on January 23, 2026. The parcel is about 18,420 square feet, and the Town estimates it will hold about 36 spaces, with wiring built in for future EV charging. The study calls it the main public lot for taking long-stay, employee and visitor parking off Kensington Parkway and Kent Street. It also recommends voluntary coordination with employers to steer staff there rather than creating a formal employee permit.
The Town's FY27 budget message, dated April 15, 2026, said the lot "should be ready in late 2026." At that point it was still in design. The October 21 agenda included Resolution R-14-2026, authorizing a proposal from ACM Services for "the Abatement of 10415 Montgomery Avenue." The study also recommends a new count 90 days after employer outreach begins and the lot opens.
Until then, the study's own numbers point to a few practical options. The Town's public lots ran at 24% on the Saturday afternoon the consultants counted, and the Town Hall lot on Mitchell Street puts much of the commercial core within a 10-minute walk. Street parking has no time limits on weekends. The next big evening for town-center parking is Light Up KTown on December 4, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Howard Avenue Park.
When we walk a Kensington street with clients, we look at it at 10 a.m. on a Saturday and again at 7 p.m. on a weeknight, because Kent Street and Kensington Parkway can be nearly empty at one hour and full at the other. If you'd like to talk through what the parking study and the new Montgomery Avenue lot could mean for your block, Graciela Haim & Heinen Group is glad to help. Schedule a Free Consultation.