Parking decks in downtown Clarkesville?
With guidance from a well-known city planner, it could be a possibility in the years ahead.
Developer Lew Oliver unveiled preliminary plans for potential reconfiguration of the downtown square to city officials at a work session Monday, Oct. 4. As drafted, Clarkesville City Manager Keith Dickerson said Oliver’s plan aims to bring a “calmer, softer” look to the downtown area.
Dickerson said the plan by Oliver, who is not being contracted or paid for his input, also could see a bridge constructed across the breezeway between Your Pie and Unicoi Outfitters, “so that people could come straight in.”
The newly-presented plan also entails the creation of two parking decks in downtown Clarkesville – one across from the Copper Pot on Grant Street and another behind Your Pie and Unicoi – for a total of about 60 extra spaces.
Right now, Clarkesville has almost 600 parking spaces in and around the city, with about 88 on the square and nearly 500 (off-square) along the perimeter of the downtown area.
The potential grant-funded project could be designed in partnership between Oliver, Georgia’s Department of Transportation and the city of Clarkesville.
Oliver’s vision, as planned, would allow drivers to access the parking decks from a level entrance downtown.
Some street parking – “parallel parking and one layer of diagonal parking spaces” – would be eliminated, according to Oliver. Oliver told city officials the plan would include planting of additional trees and added green space near the city’s square.
Dickerson said creation of the two decks could amount to the elimination of around 35 current parking spaces.
While the plan could “simplify” the parking situation in Clarkesville, according to Oliver, it would have minimal impact on downtown traffic.
A resolution set to be considered by Clarkesville City Council in December could effectively initiate a traffic study by GDOT next year.
Dickerson said an estimated cost of such a project is not yet known.
