After updating language on the City of Goldsboro Downtown Parking Page on Feb. 22, Downtown Goldsboro Business and Property Development Specialist Greg Mills continues to stress the importance of educating the public on the variety of parking options downtown.
In an email from Mills on Feb. 22, he stated the intent of the updated language on the parking website was to emphasize solutions for some common concerns with downtown parking. The website also features a new color-coded parking map.
The map also informs citizens of the location of new ADA (formerly known as handicapped) parking spaces.
“The primary focus of the updated map was really just to be an informational tool,” Mills told Goldsborodailynews.com. “A lot of people think they can’t come downtown because now there’s two-hour parking. There’s a lot of parking downtown that isn’t two-hour parking if you want to come downtown and you don’t want to have to worry about time.”
The City of Goldsboro has begun enforcement of two-hour on-street parking within the managed parking zone. This area includes Center Street from Ash to Chestnut; Mulberry Street from John to James; and Walnut Street from John to James. All other streets are not included and parking will continue as before.
Parking management enforcement began a soft roll-out in January. During this initial phase, warning tickets have been issued to those violating two-hour parking rules.
Parking violation fines will be assessed beginning Apr. 1. A two-hour parking violation is $50. A late fee of $25 will be added if the fine is not paid within two weeks.
According to Mills, there are over 1,000 parking spaces in parking lots in downtown Goldsboro, with an additional 600 on-street parking spaces. Permits were recently distributed to certain downtown businesses such as hair salons that administer services that often require more than two hours to provide to customers.
Mills believes a continuous management of the downtown parking situation along with educating the public about parking options downtown is essential.
“The bottom line is there are no resolutions, there are no final solutions,” Mills said. “It’s a managed solution. There’s lots of different ways to address the education component. There’s over 1,000 parking spaces in lots around downtown Goldsboro. Only 19% of the parking downtown is on-street parking. We’re just encouraging citizens to explore other opportunities and other solutions with parking downtown.”
Safety has been one ongoing concern regarding downtown parking that citizens have voiced in Goldsboro City Council meetings and other forums. Some business owners have voiced their concerns and the concerns of their customers over the proximity of certain parking lots from the respective businesses.
An increase in panhandling downtown has also become a growing issue. Mills pointed out that the city continues to add security cameras in parking lots in which they have the freedom to do so. He also added that panhandlers are required to have a permit, and cannot legally panhandle after 8 p.m.
The City of Goldsboro ordinance on panhandling can be found here.
Any citizen who feels threatened by a panhandler is encouraged to call the Goldsboro Police Department’s non-emergency number at (919) 580-4200.
“We are continuing to try and improve lighting downtown,” Mills said. “We’ve added some lights in some parking lots on John Street. Some of the lots are private lots. I would encourage people to look at the City of Goldsboro Crime map and the Wayne County crime map. We have very little violent crime downtown. If you see a problem report it. Call the Goldsboro Police Department’s non-emergency number. They are very attuned to it.”
Next on Mills’ list of issues to address downtown is ADA parking spaces and the most practical places to add them. Being mindful of how the location of a parking spot affects both ADA drivers and passengers is something Mills said is important.
“The next very important thing is to reassess ADA parking,” Mills said. “Some of the places downtown have some voids. Part of the challenge with ADA parking is if you have a disability and you do park on the street, in certain places you’re opening your door into the street. With every ADA space you put in you’re going to take another space that other patrons can use. In the parking lots there are plenty of ADA spots.”
