North Hills using pay-to-park policy for some spaces

The new policy has been in place for about two weeks at North Hills, and affects about 65 – between Bruegger's Bagels and Sparians – of the shopping center's 3,000 spots.

Patrons can either download an app called Passport Parking on their smartphones or can call a phone number advertised at the parking space and then provide a license plate number or credit card number.

Customers are charged $1 per hour unless they are a paying customer in the shopping center. In those cases, stores will validate parking.

"We've received some people who are confused by it, but a lot of positive comments that people can finally find a convenient parking space," North Hills general manager Bonner Gaylord said.

Gaylord said the affected spots were being used by residents and office workers and were taking away from the convenience offered to customers.

New signs will be posted Monday to better explain that they can use a paper receipt to validate parking, Gaylord said.

"Some people haven't understood that this is intended to be free parking," he said.