The Evanston Parking Committee on Wednesday discussed modifying the management and appearance of the parking garage at 1800 Maple Ave., across from the Church Street Plaza.

Arthur Hill, owner of Arthur Hill and Co., which owns a stake in the plaza, said the Maple Garage has been a success for the growing retail area but needs refined management. Currently, the city allows 30 minutes of free parking for customers, but Hill requested it be increased to one hour.

Hill said promoting the parking lot will increase patronage to the retail center.

“It’s absolutely necessary for growth of new retail that brings new jobs and tax revenue,” Hill said.

Hill objected to the space taken up by trucks from the United States Postal Service, which uses 63 spaces on the garage’s bottom floor. The postal service uses the space because construction near its Oak Street lot created safety hazards for its mail trucks and carriers.

But Parking System Manager Jean Baucom said the the post office asked for its vehicles to be placed on the bottom floor because it is”very difficult” to move the vehicles to higher floors. She said this does not affect the free-parking situation.

“Very seldom do you ever see a vehicle parked there,” Baucom said.

The committee also discussed free evening parking. The Sherman Garage, located between Church and Davis streets, offers free parking after 6 p.m., but the city charges to park in the Maple Garage in the evening.

Hill said the city told his company that the two garages would have the same schedule, and he is unhappy with the discrepancy.

Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) said the situation will change after the Sherman Garage is rebuilt. After the Sherman Plaza is completed in 2002, the garage will begin charging in the evenings.

The four hours of free parking provided for patrons of Century Theatres, 1715 Maple Ave., is sufficient, Newman said. He said this evens “the playing field” between the garages.

And Newman said the city has to make up its investment on the garage somehow.

“Somebody’s got to pay these bills, and more often than not it ends up being the user,” he said.

Baucom said it is unnecessary to provide free parking in the evenings at the Maple Garage because most people parking in the evening are moviegoers who already park for free.

The free evening parking in Sherman Garage originally was intended to promote restaurants in an emerging downtown Evanston about five years ago, Baucom said. But there is “almost nothing” near the Maple Garage besides the movie theater, she said.

The committee also discussed whether Evanston Director of Public Works David Jennings should consider changing the Maple Garage’s outer appearance by replacing the metal grills that cover the building.

“What we ended up with is not really what we designed,” Jennings said. “I want to make it look pretty.”

Jennings said removing the grills would create a cleaner look for the building, which would better match the large sculpture that is going to be installed on the front of the building this summer.