By Kaitlin Candelaria
A controversial rezoning decision back in May brought to light what can only be described as the parking nightmare that plagues downtown Homewood during peak hours.
During the rezoning process, many business owners came forward to voice their displeasure at the rezoning, which would allow a satellite church to take up residence on Linden Ave. Their main concern? Sharing their already over-stretched parking areas.
Since then, an ad hoc parking committee has been working diligently to address the issues through various avenues. The parking committee answers to the planning and development committee and will provide recommendations for the best solutions to the issue.
“We took a look at downtown and the first thing we did is try to identify if there was any property available that could be acquired or leased by the city,” Britt Thames, Ward 1 Place 2 representative said.
Although he said they inquired on a property, that solution has so far not come to fruition. The committee also turned its attention to Central Ave, which runs alongside the complex that houses The Little Donkey and Steel City Pops among other businesses.
Thames said that many confused the street as a two-way street when in fact, it is a one-way. To clarify the issue, the committee proceeded to re-stripe parking places along the length of the road and also painted a new cross walk, adding additional parking and creating a safer crossing for pedestrians.
However, Thames said the committees main thrust for solving the parking issues is actually already in place. The Soho parking deck was constructed almost 10 years ago, and yet is still vastly underutilized during the busiest times of the day.
Thames said one reason for this may be because patrons don’t realize the deck is there.
“We have very little signage around the deck—the only sign is above the ramp down into the deck, so hopefully we’ll be able to recommend putting up some additional signs around the downtown area and on our website,” Thames said. He also pointed out that some customers may feel that they’re cut off from the 18th Street shopping and eating area when they park in the deck, which he says is a misconception. He hopes to recommend highlighting the numerous routes from the deck to the retail areas as a result of their deliberations.
Thames said the final piece of possibly solving the parking dilemmas in downtown Homewood is working with the Homewood Chamber and the businesses in the area to push their employees to park in the deck as opposed to occupying customer parking.
“When the deck was originally built, the idea was that it was going to be used by employees so that customers could have the parking and it’s clear that that’s not happening,” Thames said. “It’s going to require self-policing by the businesses.” He said some businesses on 18th Street such as Urban Cookhouse already require their employees to park below ground.
Although Thames is hopeful about the results from these changes, he said long term, there are discussions taking place about rezoning and redeveloping certain areas of downtown including Linden Ave.
