Parking solution sought for Olde Towne

By Randy Bell

In the old days, the joke in Clinton was that you could shoot a gun down Jefferson Street and not risk hitting anyone. Times have changed. As more businesses have opened in the Olde Towne Historic District, it’s often hard to find a parking spot.

Clinton leaders admit it’s “a great problem to have.”

“It’s bustling down there,” says Ward 4 Alderman Chip Wilbanks, who has a law office in Olde Towne and is well aware of the weekday parking woes. While Mondays aren’t usually a problem because some businesses are closed, “on the four other days, it can be very difficult,” Wilbanks says, “especially when (municipal) court is in session.”

“We’ve just got to come up with a plan where people are not deterred from going [to Olde Towne] and eating and shopping because they can’t find a place to park,” said Wilbanks.

The Board of Aldermen discussed the problem during a recent work session. Mayor Will Purdie is looking for a solution.

“We do have to try to find some ways to address it,” Purdie says. “And, to that end, I’ve asked the City Engineer to put together some preliminary ideas for various approaches, anything they could think of that might help, to include traffic flow around the Olde Towne area. We’re certainly looking at any options.”

The mayor says there are studies which show how far people are willing to walk from where they park their car to shop in a big box store. He says he is interested in seeing how that could be applied to Olde Towne, perhaps adding more parking spaces on the edges of the district, while creating a public perception that those locations are only a short distance from the restaurants and stores, about the same as a shopper might walk on a busy day to reach the front door at Walmart.

Wilbanks says that might work.

“Get people used to walking where you’re not having to pull up to the front door of a business.”

In recent years, there’s also been talk of building a parking garage in Olde Towne. But Purdie and Wilbanks agree that would be a tall task.

“Unless we can get a really good grant, we’re going to have a difficult time [financing a parking garage],” Wilbanks says.

The mayor puts it this way- “A parking garage is tough, just from a financial standpoint, particularly if it were going to be a public project.”