Sunday, August 03, 2008
Editorial: Christiansburg's free-parking fallout
Town council is trying to make downtown parking work for all.
From the RoundTable blog
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A little more than a year after Christiansburg pulled the parking meters from downtown as a public draw, town council is looking to undo an unintended consequence: visitors who overstay the welcome.
They park their cars for hours -- sometimes all day -- limiting the spaces available to potential customers who easily can take their business elsewhere.
So town council voted in July for a two-hour limit on street parking, which would remain free: a reasonable middle ground. The change won't take effect until Sept. 1, though, and council is open to revisions.
It may need to refine the plan, but shouldn't lose sight of the intent: to nurture a fragile downtown business district. And to do that, Councilman Brad Stipes maintains, the town needs to encourage parking turnover.
Stipes, a member of the town's street committee, says extended-stay parkers aren't a problem for destination businesses. Their loyal customers will seek out a parking place, say, to keep an appointment at the beauty salon. But businesses can be hurt if they depend on convenience shoppers or tourists passing through.
A resident complained to town council this spring that people doing business at the courthouse, in particular, were tying up prime downtown parking. After consulting with some merchants, council voted to set the time limit -- but that action, Stipes said last week, was just a first step.
Council has yet to decide, for instance, just how vigorously to enforce the restriction.
Since the vote, other merchants and residents have weighed in. Some say the restriction is a solution in search of a problem: Space hogs aren't much of an issue. Others see a real, if not acute, problem but suggest varying time limits or time limits only in designated zones. Still others worry that would just move the problem farther away from the courthouse -- which has a parking lot in back.
Perhaps visitors would benefit from signs directing them there.
Obviously, council will not please everyone, nor should it try. Merchants seem to have rallied behind free street parking. Council just needs to tweak the rules a bit.
