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Clarksville Now publishes opinion pieces representing both sides of a variety of topics. Opinions presented do not necessarily reflect those of the newsroom or management. To join the conversation, email your opinion piece to news@clarksvillenow.com.
Contributed commentary by Jeff Robinson, owner of Blackhorse Pub & Brewery:
Downtown Clarksville is in a revival of sorts. This is the second revival I have seen in my 31 years of doing business on Franklin Street. We had a pretty good thing going into 1999, but the tornado wiped it out. That one was led by a resurgence in small businesses. It was before the banks hollowed out and the county moved core functions out of downtown. There was some real activity downtown. The CPD was even using horse mounted patrols on some weekends. There was a spark of life. And then it was gone in one night.
My observation is that the current downtown revival can be traced directly to the inception of the Downtown Commons. It has had a huge impact. Beyond the immediate core of downtown, it brought some excitement in general. The F&M Bank Arena has built on that. In addition to owning the Blackhorse Pub & Brewery, my wife and I have been involved in building over 100 residential units near downtown over the past 10 years. Initially they were hard to sell. Once the Downtown Commons came on line, they magically became easier to sell. Once the MPEC (F&M Bank Arena) was announced, they started selling faster at higher prices.
With this current growth, the city is coming to the table with a new garage. This is welcome news. Along with this garage the City has embarked on a comprehensive study of downtown parking and hired Desman to perform the study. I was involved with the last Desman study a little over 10 years ago as a member of the Parking Authority. We took many of the Desman recommendations and put them in place. In hindsight, some of those were not optimal at the time. Hindsight works that way. Looking back is always easier. But it pays to look back, so you don’t repeat mistakes. Desman recommended we dramatically increase fees and fines. They recommended we hire a full-time manager. Basically, they recommended we grow the business of parking control. The increases we put in place were excessive and created backlash. The manager we created a position for was overkill. That manager basically became an errand runner for the mayor. Managing the parking and the small staff in Clarksville is not really a full-time job, in my opinion.
We got some good out of that study, too. We increased the number of on-street spaces around town, especially around APSU, for example. But I would caution that Desman put forward ideas more appropriate for a city three times our size in general.
Today, thanks to the F&M Bank Arena there are two new garages about to start construction. Hopefully both will serve the arena and spark and sustain even more new development. The county/state-funded garage is directly across the street from the arena. It has the easiest and most direct access to the arena. A private developer has plans for about $50 million in follow-on development as long as that garage sticks to a free nights and weekends payment model, except for during events. It is my understanding that developer is not keen to risk the $50 million in follow-on development if that garage has paid parking on regular nights and weekends. That should be a very clear signal about where this market for paid parking is today.
The new city garage is situated over 2.5 blocks from any entry to the arena. It is important to note that the Cumberland Garage sits empty most nights and weekends. Other than during events, the new garage will sit mostly empty during those times as well until there is a lot more development in Clarksville. Really, it will take construction of the Performing Arts Center to justify that garage. The Cumberland Garage, courts, jail and EMS surround three sides of that block. There won’t be much growth in activity coming from those three sides, especially at night and on weekends. Based on walking to the arena, the new garage will have the longest walk of all options. The new county garage, APSU lots, Clarksville Transit System garage and Cumberland Garage have shorter distances to the arena. Your average Clarksvillian is all about the shortest walk possible, so the new city garage will be the last to get used for events. Its walkway to the lower end of Franklin Street is a great feature and will help it some, but the demand is not there to put many cars in it most of the time.
If this next Desman study comes out suggesting putting out 100 new meters in areas that are unmetered now, plus unrealistic fees and fines and paid parking on nights and weekends, that is a risky proposition. The idea of charging for parking inside the new garage on nights and weekends without events makes no sense at all. This would require charging for parking on the streets, in all city lots and in the Cumberland and Transit garages as well to create a level playing field during those times. This would be a huge mistake. I would point out that this consultant will fly back to Chicago or wherever he came from and leave us with the mess.
Clarksville is not ready for paid parking on nights and weekends. We need to follow the example of downtown Knoxville. Their resurgence is much farther along than ours is today, and they are still adhering to free nights and weekend parking in all city garages and most city streets. In fact, they have made it into a major part of their marketing for their downtown. Everybody in that region knows they can just pull into those garages, park and walk out into downtown Knoxville to go to an event, show, business or restaurant.
Paying for the garage is not a reason to start charging on nights and weekends in the short term. It would run the risk of damaging the increases in sales and property taxes that are just now starting to grow for relatively little gain. The new garage is not dependent on parking revenues. The City Council approved the bond issued based on a general obligation bond secured by the full faith and credit of the city and the city’s ability to pay without parking revenues. That part is done. Revenues generated from parking should follow a priority list as follows:
- Operations: Staffing, marketing, enforcement.
- Maintenance: Keep city lots and garages clean, safe and well maintained.
- Sinking fund for future capital maintenance projects.
- Excess funds to General Fund to help defray the new garage cost.
These are exciting times. Hopefully, the F&M Bank Arena will be a huge success and a Performing Arts Center will come next. But it is important to recognize that the businesses and restaurants located in core of the city today create the charm that brings people downtown daily. They are still mostly very small independent businesses with thin margins. Instituting paid parking on nights and weekends could kill off some of those businesses. That is a risk not worth taking.
Jeff Robinson
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