After a return to downtown traffic and increasing anecdotes about issues in recent years, Town of Hillsborough staff are beginning the earliest stages of embarking on a parking study to get the fullest picture of what is available.
The town’s board of commissioners held a work session on Monday, in which they received an update from town staff on the state of parking downtown.
Shannan Campbell, the town’s planning and economic development manager, told the commissioners staff new parking issues “were coming” based on interest years ago in studying patterns around the public spaces — but it only now makes sense to explore such a project.
“We were planning on doing a parking study in 2020,” she said, “and then, obviously, COVID happened and there wasn’t a whole lot of activity downtown to be able to do an effective parking study. But now that we’re seeing a full recovery again, we’re seeing some complaints about the lack of available parking and the turnover of the parking down there.”
Some of those complaints came from a recent check-in town staff held with downtown and West Hillsborough business owners in January. In addition to safety concerns — like the lack of lighting at the town lot between West King Street and West Margaret Lane and few available spaces for those with mobility challenges — the group raised examples of not having enough parking for patrons in the public deck off Nash and Kollock Street or along roads.
A look of the alley parking lot between West King Street and West Margaret Lane, which is a town-owned lot. In a meeting with Hillsborough staff, downtown stakeholders recently shared concerns about the lack of lighting in the area. (Photo via Google Maps.)
A parking study could help Hillsborough identify the exact amount of parking spaces available, as well as just how much traffic uses public spaces in town at any given time and what strategies to use for peak parking hours or special events. Campbell said staff is preparing to search for a consultant to conduct the study and hopes to partner with groups like the Durham Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization to help secure funding for the project.
Town Commissioner Matt Hughes told 97.9 The Hill that such a resource could be valuable for the local government as it makes decisions about the future for all of Hillsborough.
“That’s going to look at not just the availability of parking in downtown, but look at public and private lots,” he said. “[It will] really take a comprehensive view that will include some business areas in the north side of town, in West Hillsborough, as well as downtown. That should be a really helpful document to help us plan where we need to put parking – if we need additional parking – and how it’s currently being used.”
Hughes pointed to one recent addition of public parking the town facilitated — to both add more spots and to accommodate people who took the liberty of claiming space along the street.
“We have actually created additional spaces downtown, by using [an] existing roadway that was very wide and people were already illegally parking – along King Street in particular,” said the town commissioner. “That goes all the way up to Hassel Street now, where there is striped parking. You can park there, walk, and enjoy the community. So, we’ve gotten creative in that, and DOT gave us the permission [to make those changes], which was even better.”
In the meantime, Campbell told the town board some short-term ways staff are hoping to ease downtown stakeholders’ concerns. She said construction vehicles now have designated spots and staff will check with Duke Energy about whether an additional street light can be added in the alley lot. Campbell added that staff will suggest good practices to businesses having parking problems and see if they make a difference.
“A lot of that [effort] is educating the businesses,” she said. “If you want there to be parking for your patrons, you and your employees can park in all the prime parking [so] trying to get them to park their folks over in the deck versus on the street.”
You can watch the full parking report shared by Hillsborough town staff during Monday’s work session here on the town’s YouTube channel.
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