Parking — It’s not just for cars anymore

1 Comment

1. 

   Gregg Gerdau

    /  December 6, 2016

   Nancy,

   Lets review how little the majority of Chapel Hill want any change in the downtown. In 2005, we created the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership with assistance from UNC. The first executive director hired was Liz Parham, who lasted 3 years. Liz was hired because of her knowledge and success with the NC Mainstreet Program in Lexington. From an award she received after coming to Chapel Hill “When Liz Parham came to Lexington in 1993 from Lenoir, she found an uptown district with more buildings empty than occupied, sidewalks and street lights in disrepair, and a newly formed organization with a dream of bringing new life into not only the district but the city as well. When Liz left in the summer of 2005 to share her talents with her hometown of Chapel Hill, she left a revitalized uptown district complemented by an award-winning streetscape and events and projects recognized not just in North Carolina but worldwide.”

   Liz left to become the statewide director of the NC Main Street Center https://www.nccommerce.com/rd/main-street where she can be reached today. Any serious intent on the part of the Town Council or other effective community service organization would do well to re-engage with Liz to avail yourselves of the resources NC Main Street has available.

   More about how create economic vitality and comfortable spaces downtown can be found in two other resources. First is Josh Gurlitz who designed the benches in front of the Franklin Hotel (I’ll let Josh and the Franklin’s owners tell you why they work so well). Next would be Page 57 of the 2007 Parking Study (which Liz and the CHDP commissioned): “In the current condition, there is a demand for an estimated 2,840 parking spaces but there is only an estimated 840 public spaces. Rich and Associate estimated that 45 percent of the demand was for short term (customer/visitor) parking which equals about 1,280 parking spaces. Since most customers and visitors rely on public parking, there is a shortfall in customer/visitor parking.” That shortfall of 2000 parking spaces (which did not get smaller in the decade since the report was commissioned) is the “elephant in the room” of any conversation about downtown revitalization, economic development, increasing entrepreneurial development spaces, improved commercial tax revenues, etc. etc. etc.

   Closing the shortfall in parking has been Chapel Hill’s priority #1 for over a decade. Our next door neighbors in Downtown Durham are currently contemplating FOUR new parking decks to accommodate 3200 cars.

   Leadership requires being able to identify the problem and make solutions happen.