AGENDA #4h

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

FROM:            Kathryn Spatz, Director of Parks and Recreation

SUBJECT:       Potential Solutions for Addressing Overflow Parking at the Chapel Hill Community Center

DATE:             April 2, 2003

At the Council’s February 19, 2003 meeting with the Parks and Recreation Commission, a Council member asked if something could be done to alleviate the overcrowded parking situation at Community Center Park. Community Center Park has 68 parking spaces located in the front (east) of the Community Center building. These spaces are accessed from Estes Drive. In addition, patrons can park in any of the 24 public spaces located at the rear (west) of the building at the Plant Road Administrative offices. Those spaces are accessed from Franklin Street and Plant Road.

On fall, winter and spring weekends the parking lot in front of the Community Center is frequently well beyond capacity. Cars are often parked on the grass, adjacent to the sidewalk, and along the narrow access drive. It is not uncommon to count more than 20 cars parked beyond the capacity of the main Community Center parking lot. During these times the Administrative Office parking lot that is accessed off of Franklin Street and Plant Road is usually empty. Patrons also park in various private lots on the east side of Estes Drive and walk across Estes Drive to reach the Community Center.

We have requisitioned a sign that would direct park users to the Plant Road parking lot. That sign has not yet been delivered. Once the sign is delivered we will erect it in a prominent location.

We will continue to notify patrons registered for programs at the Community Center that the Plant Road option exists. We will do this in a number of ways including:

• When opportunities arise we will inform participants of special programs that they can park at Plant Road. Every year we have limited success from our efforts to inform participants of the Dixie Rock Climbing Competition that the Plant Road parking alternative exists. We believe that some additional success may be possible by notifying participants of other programs.
• We will include this information in every issue of the Community Center newsletter.
• We will also initiate a program of placing maps and parking information directing people to the Plant Road lot on the windshield of cars in the parking lot on days when the lot is beyond capacity.

If these strategies fail to produce results we may want to investigate options for creating new parking spaces. However, it is important to note that the best opportunities for additional spaces are in the rear of the building where parking spaces are currently underutilized.