BLUE RIDGE, GA – September marked the beginning of the beautiful Autumn season in our quaint mountain town. With Autumn comes large crowds visiting our area for it’s natural beauty, and enjoying one of our many festivals held downtown.

Business owners and residents alike were shocked to see that more parking spaces were disappearing from East Main Street, especially with the busy season upon us.

More spaces, in our already under spaced area, seemed to disappear overnight as crews came in removing the freshly painted spots and lining them with the all too familiar No Parking stripes.

According to the original proposal of the East Main Streetscape project, passed by City Council, these parking spaces should have been marked for No Parking when the project was completed earlier this year.

Council Member Angie Arp confirmed that the striping company, contracted by Colwell Construction, did not mark off or strip East Main Street according to the council approved plans.

She went on to say that parking was only supposed to be on one side or the other all the way down the street as a safety measure, and as per recommended by the public safety officials.

When asked why the parking had not been corrected immediately, Arp explained that the striping was contracted to a company out of Atlanta, and they had to schedule the owner of the company to verify what was done and what should have been done. Once that was confirmed, the striping company had to schedule a time for them to get back up here to fix it correctly. They planned to come back at a time when it wasn’t as busy so they waited till after school started and before Labor Day weekend.

The latest removal of parking spaces disheartened many business owners who had recently attended City Council meetings over parking related matters.

Council Members have been working for years to bring a solution to our city’s parking, but with little agreement, the parking issue continues to get pushed to the backburner.

Arp and fellow Council Member Bruce Pack diligently worked to bring parking through what came to be known as the Pack Property Lease. This area, located at the end of free parking, was estimated to add an additional 300 parking spaces to the city, but at a cost for the taxpayers.

The newest idea to add parking was debuted last week, via Facebook, by Council Member Rhonda Thomas and Councilmember Elect Kenneth Gaddis. This idea involved off campus parking on an already owned city lot.

The land is located near the Swan Drive-In, and with the recent passing of the Electric Shuttle Bus Ordinance could provide the city with an approximate 150 new spaces. The Shuttle Bus could run regular trips multiple times a day between this free parking area and downtown.

Thomas pointed out that this particular space is already equipped with restrooms, an area for concessions, and the existing structure could provide shelter for those waiting in inclement weather.

Gaddis said, “This isn’t just for downtown, this is for Blue Ridge itself. We have the Blue Ridge Community Theatre there which hosts many events. Students pack nearby parking for the games. This could be an overflow. We want this to be shared throughout.”

This latest idea to help alleviate the parking woes of downtown is scheduled to be discussed at a Blue Ridge City Council special called meeting on Tuesday, September 26 at 10:00 A.M. at City Hall.

 

 

 

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