The Planning Commission held its November meeting a day early to avoid Election Day. The meeting, originally scheduled for Tuesday, was held Monday night.
Commissioner Susan Harman delivered a presentation on the Vision Plan commissioned by the city in 1996. She specifically referenced the parking section, and said the city failed to act on good advice. “Why should we spend on a new plan?” she asked. “Nothing has changed here in twenty-seven years. There are different faces, but people still have trouble finding parking.”
Harman said the suggestions contained in the 1996 plan were important to people at the time, but subsequent city administrations did not follow through on the recommendations. She said the Vision Plan advised against a downtown parking garage, which they said would not be cost-effective. A parking garage downtown would also increase congestion, according to those who assembled the plan.
Instead of a parking garage, Harman agreed with the Vision Plan’s recommendations for small peripheral parking lots. The city already has Planer Hill and some smaller parking areas. Harman said she had checked parcels of land for sale and found a variety of sizes and prices. In addition to parking, such sites might also provide additional public restrooms.
Harman suggested adopting short-term and long-term plans to look for peripheral parking and address methods to shuttle people from those sites to downtown. That would benefit downtown workers, as well as tourists. She asked the others at the table about tackling the parking provisions of the Vision Plan within the near future. Chair Ann Tandy-Sallee agreed and proposed addressing the topic in January.
Before leaving the subject, commissioner Fergie Stewart noted that some private businesses also currently provide peripheral parking, such as Pine Mountain. Referring to gatherings of car clubs, he said, “We couldn’t handle those events otherwise.” Stewart hoped other businesses might find ways to create parking.
On a related note, commissioners looked over revisions to a proposed ordinance to create a Spring Street Parking District. They expect to take the ordinance to the Nov. 14 city council meeting. Tandy-Sallee said, “We’ve done enough work to get it before council.”
In other business:
- Jack Moyer appeared on behalf of owner Elise Roenigk to ask approval for a new storage building at 100 Ridgeview Rd. He explained that the Crescent Hotel has used space at Eastgate Center for storage, but that property has been sold. The proposed location is not visible from U.S. Hwy. 62 and is further from the highway than the nearby Eureka Spring Brewery. The building, 40 by 60 feet, was approved unanimously.
- Commissioner Fergie Stewart said there were a lot of wet zombies in the city, but the zombie crawl was still “an economic boon” for the city.” He thanked everyone involved for helping support the Flint Street Food Bank.
The agenda for Dec. 13 will include assembling a “wish list” of goals for 2023.