Merchants, consultants, officials come together on downtown parking

Findings of yearlong study released

FAYETTEVILLE — A comprehensive parking system downtown starts with business and property owners working with city officials to free up spaces on private lots, according to a new study.

Consultants Nelson/ Nygaard on Tuesday released the findings of a nearly yearlong analysis of parking downtown. The City Council awarded a $585,000 contract to the San Francisco-based consulting firm in March 2016 to update the city’s transportation and parking plans.

The focus area encompasses

Maple to South streets and University Avenue east to College Avenue. The study found more than 9,000 parking spaces downtown with about 3,800 of them publicly owned.

The Dickson Street Merchants Association released its own poll a week before the Nelson/Nygaard study came out. A majority of Walton Arts Center ticket buyers and Dickson Street customers, 64 percent, reported

perceiving a lack of parking availability. Nearly 80 percent agreed the overall parking experience needs improvement.

Just more than a handful of downtown property and business owners met Wednesday with city officials and Nelson/Nygaard consultant Jason Schrieber to go over the study’s recommendations at the Fayetteville Public Library. Joe Fennel, Merchants Association president and owner of Bordinos, said the city tried shared parking decades ago. It resulted in the few open spaces, such as at University Baptist Church, filling almost instantly and new development getting slapped with a fine for taking up too large a footprint, he said.

Fennel remained open to making arrangements with the city but worried whether those agreements would last through future administrations.

“How does this go wrong? The problem with shared parking is life goes on and all this stuff that was a deal at one time disappears,” he said, crinkling a piece of paper and tossing it to the floor to demonstrate. “That stuff goes away.”

Schrieber said every successful city avoids that issue through objective, data-based management. The city would regularly monitor parking and use the information to figure the spaces needed in the immediate area for a proposed development. If not enough parking exists to serve the development, the applicants would have to find a way to come up with more spaces or contribute to an account dedicated to building a parking deck, he used as an example.

Peter Nierengarten, the city’s parking director, said officials will continue to collect input from stakeholders such as the Merchants Association and residents before bringing

a complete study with recommendations for the City Council to vote on in the fall.

Something as simple as signs looking about the same help drivers quickly figure out where they can park, Schrieber said. Ted Belden, owner of the parking deck at 609 W. Dickson St. with about 75 metered spots for the public, pointed out the Off-Street Parking Improvement District needs to be part of the conversation. Established in the 1970s, the group still owns some lots, such as the one behind Hugo’s on the square, which the city manages.

“They have a pretty good chunk of cash sitting around there,” said Greg House, owner of the lot next to Arsaga’s at the Depot.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle the city faces is the perception of parking downtown, Schrieber said. Drivers cram into the two main lots on West Avenue and along Dickson Street at peak times, a total of about 1,700 spaces. About 600 spaces sit mostly unoccupied within a block or two of Dickson and about 1,000 more lie about a minute’s drive away, he said.

Making signs clearly visible and easy to read, providing adequate lighting and improving sidewalks will encourage drivers to park and walk, Schrieber said. Just a 10 percent shift would help, he said.

“One hundred and seventy cars that go a little bit farther out completely changes the perception of that core,” Schrieber said. “Suddenly, you can find parking.”