Why should the city pay to solve the perception of a parking problem? An Opinion

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Reporter - News Analyst

June 8,9, 2014 1:00 a.m.

Study after publicly funded study has demonstrated that while there is the perception of a parking problem downtown, there is no real problem parking downtown in Fernandina Beach.  There are more than enough spaces available, except for special events like Shrimp Fest, to accommodate shoppers, restaurant patrons, sightseers and residents in public lots and on the streets.

As a downtown resident who lives a mere 2 blocks from Centre Street, I concur.  Rarely, other than during church services at St. Michael’s, are street parking places at a premium.  Yet Fernandina Beach City Commissioners are considering the possibility of asking the taxpayers, via a November referendum, to approve a General Obligation Bond to construct a downtown parking garage (among other items).  That bond would be repaid with interest by city property owners.

If you overlaid the Avenues Mall over Fernandina Beach’s Central Business District, you would see that downtown patrons can park closer to their destinations here than Avenue Mall patrons walk to get from Dillard’s to Belk. People used to having to pay a hefty parking fee to park in places like St. Augustine or Savannah are amazed that Fernandina has so much free parking so close to their destinations.

So where’s the problem?  Apparently, according to Commissioner Pat Gass, the problem is with the service workers who can’t find parking spaces close in to their place of employment.  So this is the way the “more parking” advocates define a parking problem:  if shop or restaurant owners and employees cannot park in front of their businesses, there is a problem.  What’s more, by their reasoning, “someone else” –i.e., the taxpayers--should pay for the public parking needs created when their own employees take up close-in parking spaces intended for shoppers and patrons. This logic apparently also applies to the boaters who want a free place to park their trucks and cars for an entire day so that they don’t have to walk far to move their coolers and fishing gear back and forth to their boats.

Several years ago University of Florida professor Bill Tilson, well known to us as the author of design guidelines for the the Historic District and the CRA areas, stated that parking garages are not cost effective for a community with a population under 50,000.  At that time he said that each space in a parking garage costs $14,000.  The latest estimate I’ve heard is from local architect Randy Rice: $15,000 per space.  A parking garage would of necessity be located away from Centre Street.  Does anyone truly believe that those people who complain about having to walk around the corner to park, would be willing to walk several blocks to a garage?

Any of you who ventured downtown during Memorial Day weekend, especially in the evening, know that the town was jam-packed with visitors.  There were quite literally lines outside restaurants that Sunday evening as people patiently waited for a spot to dine.  During that same period, the parking lot behind the library was closed in large part, due to the library expansion.  Yet that did not deter people from visiting downtown.  Indeed, I’ve been informed that even with the temporary closing of the library parking lot, there remain plenty of vacant spaces on the downtown streets on a regular basis.  So where is the need for a parking garage?

Did it ever occur to downtown business owners, some of whom are adamantly opposed to public money being expended on the library, the post office building and a waterfront park, that they have a model to follow in the Friends of the Library?  If the downtown business owners, individually or collectively, truly believe that they need more parking, why don’t they assume some responsibility (and cost) to provide it?  Nothing prevents them from buying or leasing land that could hold a parking lot for employees.  They could also buy land and build a parking garage outside the Central Business District and run a shuttle to downtown.  Why is it that the “parking problem” can only be solved with public money?

Why do we as a city allow a small group to hold hostage any public improvement projects over exaggerated or phony parking problems?  Over almost 20 years living in downtown Fernandina Beach, I have learned a few things about “the parking problem”:

• Downtown business and restaurant owners often park in front of their own establishments, taking up space all day that could be used by paying customers.
• Some downtown business and restaurant owners have told their staffs not to park in front of their own businesses, but have no problem with these “service workers” parking in front of someone else’s business.
• Many merchants and restaurateurs on Centre Street have no problem taking up parking spaces for businesses off Centre Street.
• Boaters who keep their boats in the water at the city marina or those who take Charter Boats from the city marina regularly take up spaces for an entire day in the city’s waterfront lots on either side of Brett’s, instead of moving toward long term parking areas south of Atlantic Seafood.  This means that downtown shoppers and restaurant patrons need to search further afield for short-term parking.
• While downtown merchants claim to want to see the 3-hour parking limit enforced, they have not yet offered to fund one or more positions in the city to accomplish such enforcement.  Since our current government philosophy seems to support cutting government employment to the bone to save money for taxpayers, there is currently little money in public coffers to support parking enforcement or greater code enforcement.

To be fair to the Historic Fernandina Beach Business Association, the last time the issue of downtown parking arose before the City Commission, they provided the city with a list of steps that could be taken, many at little or no cost, to help the situation.  The first was--duh--a call for immediate action by the city to adopt a parking plan for downtown. One of the bullets in their report read, "The so-called 'parking crisis' is in fact a 'parking management crisis.'" I don't believe that their report was ever discussed in a public meeting; I am not aware that action has been taken to reply or address suggestions they raised more than a year ago.  Shouldn't that report be considered before deciding that the only answer is an expensive parking garage?

You can’t blame the tourists for the parking problem, since they will gladly park wherever the city tells them to park, overjoyed to realize that there is so much parking available – and it’s all free.  The real parking problem lies with the mindset of certain advocates for entrenched local interests who believe that any person should be able to park anywhere s/he wants whenever s/he wants at no cost and no inconvenience to others.  So, having said all of this, should the city of Fernandina Beach put money into solving a perception when there are so many real problems -- like storm water drainage--that need to be solved?

In promoting his plan for the waterfront park, local architect Randy Rice said that the owner of an empty lot just north of the city marina would be willing to rent that lot for parking to the city for $3,000-3,500 per month.  The downtown merchants could also rent that lot for employee parking.  The Charter Boat Fishermen could rent it for their patrons.  Amelia River Cruises could rent it for their patrons.  None of these groups seem to have jumped at the idea, but would love for the city to rent it so that their businesses could make use of it.

For those who happily rewind and play the “parking problem” tape every time there is talk of downtown improvements, how about forming some sort of alliance or confederation or association or whatever to raise money toward solving this problem?  If the Friends of the Library can do it, you can, too.  Especially if as you claim, the success of your own business depends on providing more parking.

But keep this in mind as your consider doing so.  If your employees and your patrons won’t walk two blocks off Centre Street to park on the street, why would they walk the same distance or more to park in a garage?

Editor's Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne's many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.