Study looks at downtown parking
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on December 24, 2015 1:46 PM
Downtown Goldsboro's Streetscape project is finished and now the city is looking for a consultant to conduct a parking study of the area.
The reason for the study is to make sure the city has enough parking to support future growth in the form of businesses, apartments and any other development.
Ideally, the study will also show where in the downtown area parking is lacking or needs to be improved.
The city is planning on launching a request for qualifications on Jan. 5 to seek a professional planning service to conduct the traffic and parking study.
Once the study is completed it will act as a guide to identify existing parking arrangements, show existing traffic patterns, analyze current and future development opportunities and show where there is inadequate parking both currently and where parking might be hindered in the future.
When a presentation on the matter was made to the Goldsboro City Council at its last meeting in December, District 3 council member Mark Stevens questioned what the associated fees would be with hiring an outside consultant for the project.
"Well, we won't know the fee and because this is a solicitation of professional services, we have to select the candidate that is best qualified, first, and then we negotiate the price after," said DGDC Director Julie Metz.
But, while the cost of the study is not yet known, Ms. Metz said the city has a budget of $80,000 for the study. She also clarified that the most the city would be required to spend on the study is 20 percent of $80,000 -- or, $16,000.
"Whatever the amount is that we negotiate, the NCDOT would pay 80 percent of the cost and the city would pay 20 percent of the cost," Ms. Metz said. "We've already set aside our 20 percent maximum amount of $80,000 in our current fiscal budget."
Mayor Pro-Tem Gene Aycock said he currently -- and has always -- felt like the city spends too much money on consultants.
"I think that we know most of our needs right now for parking is back towards the courthouse and central business district," Aycock said. "You know, $80,000 would go a long way -- of course, I know we can't use it because it's earmarked -- but, for paving an area. You know, I'm sorry, paying for consultation when we already know where the needs exist just does not seem reasonable to me."
But City Manager Scott Stevens said the value in paying for a consultant to develop a study lies within getting an outside, professional opinion.
"We know some areas where we need parking. But I also know we're talking with new people in downtown on a pretty regular basis that are in different areas, and their big concern is parking," Stevens said. "I think having a real detailed analysis of how much is there, where it can be in the future and where we see it going will help. And the other side, which I think Julie (Metz) mentioned, is you have a lot of signs throughout the city, but a lot more downtown, that were put up by ordinance 30 years ago, 50 years ago, 80 years ago, that really have no relevance today. And, to me, this will help us with replacing them with signs that are needed. Instead of spending a lot of staff time trying to figure out what's still there, let's let a consultant do part of that so we can remove, I think, a lot of your parking signs that are not just on Center Street, but primarily the rest of the MSD (Municipal Service District) area, trying to reduce some of the clutter and ugliness of those old signs that really aren't needed today. Then you have a basis for removing them, and you have a listing of what we're talking about."
After a firm is selected by the city to perform the study, the firm will work closely with the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp., the city and county planning departments and representatives from Division 4 of the state Department of Transportation to complete the study.
Submittals from professional consultants for the work are due to the city by Jan. 26, and the city would ideally select a consultant for the study by Feb. 16.
Following this, there will be meetings between the consultant and those with a vested interest in the project, and the final draft of the study would be presented to the City Council for adoption on June 6.
Ms. Metz said herself and Stevens came before the council approximately one month ago to discuss potentially acquiring property downtown to use for public parking areas. This is because, she said, private investors have continually expressed concerns over the amount of adequate parking downtown.
"We have some private investors that if they made the investment it would be great for downtown and the city, but parking is their biggest concern and right now that's what's holding them up from moving forward," Ms. Metz said. "So I think having this information would be very helpful."
Aycock said he certainly agreed that the downtown area needed more parking, but was stuck on the cost of a study to confirm what he already had a hunch about.
"I think we need more parking. I'm not opposed to that," Aycock said. "I'm just saying it's a lot of money for somebody to tell us what we already, probably, know."