Workers erected new parking signs earlier this month, then covered them until the new policy takes effect. (Brenda Barger/DavidsonNews.net)
Updated Friday, 10:39 a.m.
Davidson officials are preparing to extend 2-hour parking limits to new areas of downtown, with enforcement to begin in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the Town Board will hold its monthly work session Tuesday night, Aug. 28, with an agenda that includes a public hearing and vote on refinancing some town loans.
PARKING CHANGES
Town officials are continuing to carry out recommendations in a consultant’s 2011 parking study, which looked at short-term and long-term solutions to improve parking downtown.
Two weeks ago, town workers began putting in new signs along Concord Road and North Main Street, signaling that those areas now will have a 2-hour parking limit, rather than all day. The signs are currently covered, but Davidson public works chief Doug Wright says enforcement will begin in September, after discussions with Davidson College. He said in an email:
The [new] signs restrict on-street parking, based on recommendations from the parking study. We are also replacing all old signage within the study area. We expect to begin enforcement the week of Sept. 10th. We are meeting with the college next week to finalize a few parking issues that affect them.
The 2011 parking study said downtown has a surplus of parking spaces, though that will decline with new development. Business owners have been concerned that there’s not enough parking for potential customers. New limits on parking could ensure that spaces turn over regularly, instead of being occupied all day.
DavidsonNews.net‘s Around Davidson columnist Brenda Barger has expressed concern about new limits. (See her note at the end of her Aug. 9 column.)
Last year, the town restricted parking to two hours in front of Town Hall and along a portion of South Street, where residents were given resident parking permits.
The parking consultants had recommended against putting meters downtown. The two-hour parking limit is managed by the town’s parking enforcement officer. Meanwhile, the town on Jan. 1 increased parking fines to $30.
TOWN BOARD MEETS TUESDAY
Davidson’s Town Board meets for its monthly work session on Tuesday, Aug. 28. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, 216 S. Main St. and will include a public hearing and vote on refinancing about $1.5 million in town debt, for park land and street and sidewalk repairs.
Tuesday’s agenda also originally listed a presentation by police chief Jeanne Miller about enforcing state law against texting and driving. But the town spokeswoman said Friday that Chief Miller won’t be able to attend, and that presentation will be put off to a future meeting.
Tuesday also will include a discussion of the town’s 5-year Capital Improvement Plan. The board also will hear an update on fiscal impact studies in the town’s Economic Development Strategic Plan.
Read the full agenda on the town website.
Having been the director of a downtown revitalization/economic vitality program in a former life, and later in a town where downtown ‘parking problems’ were the norm, I can say with some experience that a program like the Town has instituted and is expanding is going to be a good thing for most of the merchants. However quietly most would talk about it, having a program where parkers are encouraged (coerced, perhaps) into moving every couple of hours is a good way to increase your front-door customer traffic, without the more ‘threatening’ look of parking meters…not to mention the clutter on the sidewalk.
While I understand Brenda’s concern about the meeting/long lunch possibility–especially as it specifically pertains to the spaces along Concord Road adjacent to the church and college–I applaud the expansion generally, and particularly along Main Street–the spaces that front directly on the business corridor.
In almost every study of downtown parking that’s ever been done, the most notorious full-day parkers taking up non time-regulated spaces are the employees of the businesses along the streets the spaces front. In Davidson’s case, I’d bet it’s still that, along with college-related employee vehicles. Davidson’s done a good job generally with encouraging employees to park in the rear of the businesses, and the College has likewise done a good job. But I see, for instance, one vehicle that I know is owned by a college staffer who’s parked in the same spot every day when I leave for work, and it’s there when I come home from work. It’s closer to the person’s office to be on the street than in the employee lots on campus. But it’s currently legal for the person to park there, so I have no beef with the practice…but it’s not allowing any potential customer to use the space through the day.
Finally, in addition to my general support for the expansion of the program, I’d also like to urge continued restraint and understanding by parking enforcement staff and/or volunteers. Davidson is still a charming small southern town…one of the reasons why metering doesn’t make sense (in my opinion) here. Perhaps another way to manage the parking availability is to continue to work closely with the church, college, and other businesses to occasionally cover some of the parking signs when there’s a known event that might necessitate additional lengthy parking…many cities cover their meters for funerals, major functions and the like; we could cover a sign or two as needs arise.
I am encouraged to see the town continue to implement the recommendations of the parking study I commissioned. To this point it has been well done and exceeded my expectations. However, the number of signs posted on N. Main Street near DCPC is overkill. There is a sign every two spaces. Typically, towns put a sign at the end and the beginning of a block with a directional arrow in the copy and it is pretty easy to figure out from there. We have many good things in Davidson but, we are very cluttered with signs galore. Research shows visual clutter diminishes the impact of any one sign – just look at your typical commercial strip. Regulatory signs are the same, and I for one would rather have uninterrupted views onto the beautiful college campus.
It would be nice to see a comprehensive sign removal program. At least a policy to take one down for every one that goes up. When I was working on the roundabouts I deleted over fifty signs deemed unnecessary and yet we still have way too many. In particular, the one way signs in the roundabouts and the yield sign at the top of the I-77 off ramp. It should have been removed five years ago since there is a dedicated lane but, I was told no, as it belongs to NCDOT. I would venture to say there have been a disproportionate number of crashes at that location as people unknowingly stop while those behind keep on truckin’.
In the words of the Five Man Electrical Band,
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind
Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”
How about no signs? Sound impossible? Check out this article about a small town in Germany:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0331/What-happens-when-you-remove-all-traffic-signs-A-German-town-finds-out