City Talk: Residents, businesses should read between the lines, be wary of parking study

This is the City Talk column by Bill Dawers, a longtime contributor to the Savannah Morning News.

When I moved to the north end of the Thomas Square neighborhood more than 25 years ago, on-street parking was plentiful.

Today, my block has a higher demand for spaces than most blocks in the downtown area.

The Savannah College of Art and Design’s Arnold Hall, which is just two blocks south on Bull Street, generates considerable demand, although the parking pressure caused by students seems to have lessened in recent years. More seem to be going to classes on foot, and more might be taking the college’s buses.

City Talk: Proposal to enforce parking meters until 8 p.m. raises tough questions

My street is also in high demand from some patrons and employees of the numerous businesses around the corner on Bull Street, including Bull Street Taco, Stump, Bell Barber Co., Temple Day Spa, Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming and Henny Penny Art Space & Café. All of them have been great neighbors.

Three apartments across the street from me do not have off-street parking. Two homes on the block have garages, but the occupants have parked on the street more often than not over the years. Three condo units on Bull that are now used as short-term vacation rentals do not have off-street parking.

Despite these disparate sources of demand for curbside parking, I can find a space on my block at least 90% of the time. As I write this column, there are 13 cars parked on the block, with room for two or three more, depending on whether the drivers use the available spots efficiently.

The level of demand is nearly perfect to support the needs of both residents and businesses.

Donald Shoup argues that “right-priced curb parking” would ensure that one of every eight spaces would be free at any given time, which would then minimize the need for drivers to add to traffic congestion as they cruise for parking. In the case of my block, that right price appears to be zero.

Shoup and other experts have argued cogently against minimum parking requirements and have detailed the negative impacts of off-street parking lots, but they have also advocated for smart policies to make the best possible use of on-street parking, including with dynamic pricing based on demand.

City of Savannah officials might not have had the resources to implement dynamic pricing when they overhauled downtown parking regulations more than five years ago, but their decision to extend enforcement hours and raise prices even on blocks with relatively low demand has had some terrible results.

City Talk: Proposal to enforce parking meters until 8 p.m. raises tough questions

The changes hurt businesses that catered to locals and contributed to the gnawing sense that the city bureaucracy cares more about tourists than residents.

Worrisomely, the city recently issued a request for proposals to update the Parking Matters analysis that was used as justification for those bad policies. The study area will stretch south to Victory Drive and include several especially busy blocks in the Starland district – blocks that probably do need to be addressed in some way.

It feels like a perilous moment for the future of resurgent mixed-use areas of the Thomas Square and Victorian neighborhoods. Many residents will argue for smart, targeted tactics to address localized problems, but it seems clear that some city officials want to paint a lot of lines, install a lot of meters and raise a lot of revenue.

If city crews show up with paint cans on my block, we could easily lose six of our 15 or 16 curbside spaces. Overnight, a block with a near-perfect balance of supply and demand would have to be metered or have some spaces designated as resident-only.

The impacts on nearby small businesses would be devastating.

According to reporting at Savannah Agenda, city officials hope to select a consultant by the end of the year, but before approving that expenditure, the mayor and council should ask some hard questions about the need for another sprawling study when neighborhood residents can easily pinpoint the problem areas.

Bill Dawers can be reached via @billdawers on Twitter and CityTalkSavannah@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: City Talk: Residents, businesses should be wary of new parking study