Fairhope, Alabama thefairhopetimes.blogspot.com
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| Current statistics. |
PARKING GARAGE STILL UNDER-USED
A downtown-area parking study by Illinois-based Walker Consultants commissioned by the city council about two years ago found that despite previous efforts (ie. the Arts Alley project), the city's main parking garage is still being underutilized.
Out of 2,600 total parking spaces available in the downtown CBD, 44% are on-street, 32% in private lots, and 24% off-street public parking. On-street parking is by far more heavily-utilized though, the study found.
"PARKING DISTRIBUTION" THE PROBLEM
According to the study, there is no parking demand problem currently but rather a parking distribution problem with low turnover and high competition for on-street spaces; but added that the current parking surplus will shrink as the town grows/develops. Up to 700 more spaces will eventually be needed.
SOLUTIONS RECOMMENDED
Developing a new 'Downtown Parking Management Plan' was recommended as a first step, with components like expanding on-street timed parking (such as the current 2-hr. pilot project on Pine Avenue) in the short term -- and finding dedicated sustainable funding sources for the city's Parking Authority a possible long-term solution to use to construct new parking lots/decks (impact fees?).
With adequate, periodic turnover each downtown space could generate $200K every year for downtown businesses, according to the consultant.
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| Current Pine St. 2-hr parking zone. |