Commissioners tap brakes on proposed downtown parking overhaul

A proposal to install parking meters in downtown Macon and move parking management under a different umbrella hit a snag Tuesday.

Macon-Bibb County commissioners debated a sweeping change that would give the Urban Development Authority control of overseeing downtown parking. The measure is expected to return before commissioners on Nov. 8 after it failed to garner enough votes to move forward Tuesday.

Installing parking meters was among the recommendations of the Macon Action Plan, which details ways to improve the city’s core. The development authority’s proposal is to add meters along several of downtown’s busiest streets, such as Cherry and Mulberry. There could be a $1 an hour charge during certain periods and a $10 fine for going over the time limit.

Current on-street parking regulations are a two-hour limit for many of the downtown spaces. But with just two parking enforcement officers patrolling downtown, it’s been tough to handle an area that size, Sheriff David Davis said.

Downtown Macon needs to create “turnover” for businesses, as recent data show the average vehicle is in a parking space for more than two hours at a time. In some areas in the heart of downtown, though, it’s four to five hours, said Mark de la Vergne, a transportation planner with Sam Schwartz.

“This same issue has been in downtown for 25 years,” he said. “As the urban core continues to boom, the issue becomes more exacerbated.”

Officials agreed Tuesday that more enforcement and encouraging the use of parking garages and decks would be instrumental in solving some of the parking concerns. One development authority idea is possibly providing permits for residents to park in designated areas, according to the resolution.

There are 1,260 on-street parking spaces and 4,600 off-street parking spaces downtown.

Commissioner Elaine Lucas wanted more information and input from people who shop downtown before deciding. She also questioned having the UDA oversee parking when government officials will receive blame if problems arise. The development authority is a separate entity from Macon-Bibb, but it receives funding from the county.

“If there is a problem with this, how do you remedy it and turn authority over to a separate body that’s not elected and doesn’t have to answer to the citizens?” Lucas asked.

Commissioner Al Tillman said he didn’t necessarily have a problem with meters, but he thinks there needs to be better promotion of the use of parking garages, which are underused.

“A lot of folks don’t know they exist,” he said.

Business hurt by parking, owners say

Several downtown business owners spoke out at Tuesday’s meeting about a dire need for better parking measures.

One of them, Jean Bragg, said many people don’t observe the parking regulations, leaving some potential shoppers and residents unable to find a close space.

“I’m listening to what people want,” she told commissioners. “I’m making changes. I keep evolving, and we all have to evolve. One dollars an hour is cheap. My people and all people who want to shop downtown will pay a $1 a hour, but you have to have turnover.”

Bob Lewis, a former chairman of the Urban Development Authority, said he knows of people getting so frustrated with parking downtown that they go to other areas instead to eat lunch.

Lewis, also a downtown business owner, said there are likely many employees who now park on the street without fear of repercussions, which further ties up on-street parking.

“We do have a problem, and it’s especially harmful to people who have invested in businesses, homes and their lives in downtown Macon,” he said.

The revitalization of downtown has led to more parking issues.

“Every city that’s on the move has some sort of downtown parking management program in place,” said Commissioner Larry Schlesinger, who co-sponsored the resolution.

Parking meter proposals in downtown Macon have come up a couple times since they were last removed in 1983.

In 2010, a company sought to install about 800 meters and set up residential and central business district zones, but the City Council declined to accept the contract. About a decade earlier a proposal by former Mayor C. Jack Ellis to install coin-operated meters and increase parking fines deadlocked in a committee.

While Macon has been without parking meters, several other similarly sized cities have the devices in their city core.

Savannah, Athens and Asheville, North Carolina, each have between 700 and 3,000 metered parking spaces, de la Vergne said.

In Macon, the meters and having more employees using parking decks and lots could help ease the struggle some businesses face.

“Similar to most places, it’s employees parking downtown who feel they won’t get a ticket or if they do get one once in awhile, … there’s a cost benefit to that as opposed to parking in a garage,” de la Vergne said.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Commissioners tap brakes on proposed downtown parking overhaul."