HAMILTON — City officials could soon begin charging a parking fee to those who visit Hamilton parks for special events as a way to offset maintenance costs associated with their increased usage.

City Council will consider Wednesday a request from the city manager and public works director to establish the fee, which would go into effect sometime in 2013. Hamilton parks, such as the 313-acre Joyce Park, have become premier venues for soccer and other sports tournaments that draw thousands of people to the city from out of town.

Charging a “modest” fee — between $1 and $10 per day — to park on city property for these special events would help the city recoup costs for trash collection, grass mowing and litter pickup at the parks, according to City Manager Joshua Smith. City officials had no estimates at this time about how much money could be generated.

“We have a lot of events in our parks, especially at Joyce Park,” said Rich Engle, the city’s public works director and engineer. “Many of the organizations clean-up the parks after their events. We charge fees to use park shelters or the Colligan Lodge, but we don’t charge fees to use the parks for events.”

Engle said the fee would be another revenue stream for park maintenance, which receives dollars from the city’s general operating fund. Parking fees, he said, are a “common practice” at special events in surrounding communities and people have become accustomed to paying them.

“There are no plans to implement these fees immediately,” Engle said. “We would not spring (the fee) on a tournament or a concert…the organizers would be forewarned.”

Sending the proposal to council for consideration is the first step in the process.

Barb Gaynor, vice president of the Hamilton SAY Soccer, said she thought the proposal was “a great idea.”

“You pay to park (at) a Reds game,” she said. “They do it at all of the Hamilton County parks as one way to put money back into their parks, and they have beautiful parks there…. I think it is so common anymore people don’t think about it.”

She said Hamilton County has a daily, weekend and yearly pass for people to purchase to enter that park system.

Gaynor said some SAY tournaments may draw between 200 and 300 teams for a weekend or two, which will attract between 3,000 and 5,000 people.

Mark Hecquet, executive director of the Butler County Visitors Bureau, warned the parking fee at special events could draw somenegative feedback from visitors. However, if the money collected is used to maintain and upgrade the parks, it could just be viewed as the cost of doing business, he said.

“It all comes down to value,” Hecquet said.

The fees could used to help fund planned improvements to Joyce Park. City officials want to add as many as 28 soccer fields, three practice fields, a concession stand and parking in the area south of Joe Nuxhall Way.

To the north of Joe Nuxhall Way, the conceptual master plan has another 15 soccer fields, two adult baseball fields with 320-foot foul lines, and three adult softball fields with 300-foot foul lines. It also could have a concession stand and parking areas in addition to an existing building and restrooms.

Engle said the project would be done in phases with some work south of Joe Nuxhall Way starting as early as this fall. He said the plan was an idea the city and the Butler County Visitors Bureau created to attract visitors from throughout the Midwest and compete against other cities to host soccer tournaments.

“There’s a lot of vacant land that could be expanded to host regional, state and national soccer tournaments,” he said.

Hecquet said the park could provide the opportunity to draw other multi-sports events to boost tourism dollars.

“What’s crucial are venues competing regionally and nationally and we need to keep our venues at a level to attract these events,” he said.