The Board of Aldermen needs to agree on a specific and reasonable goal before dishing out $75,000 to $100,000 to study parking in Carrboro.
Currently, the board remains split on what members hope the study achieves. Some want to encourage public transportation and biking and think investing in methods to reduce parking downtown is the way to go. But other aldermen hope to increase parking availability and reduce the number of people parking on private properties like Carr Mill Mall.
The board should garner public input from Carrboro residents for help settling on an end goal. Allowing residents of Chapel Hill and other surrounding towns to express their opinion would also be beneficial, as these populations often use public parking when visiting Carrboro.
A hundred thousand dollars is a lot to invest in a parking plan, so town officials need to make absolutely sure on what they hope to learn from the study.
When deciding on the goal of the study, the aldermen should not disregard the facts right in front of their faces.
For example, the parking spaces available at the new Hampton Inn & Suites have a two-hour time limit, which has resulted in low traffic at the deck. Clearly, most visitors want to park for longer, so the town should explore options that don’t come with a time limit.
In addition, the number of people parking at Carr Mill Mall as well as other nearby lots attests to this location’s value for visiting downtown businesses.
The board should take these factors into account as a gauge of public preference in parking options before making a decision.
The aldermen need to provide clearer goals based on already-available information if they hope to achieve anything from the parking study.
