CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Clarksville Parking Commission has approved a downtown parking plan that maintains the current fee structure and sets a four-hour time limit at all on-street metered spaces.
City spokesperson Richard Stevens said the changes, “are designed to create a simpler, more consumer-friendly approach to downtown parking and overcome some of the current system’s equipment and enforcement challenges.”
The changes were approved unanimously at a special called meeting Tuesday and will take effect on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
What’s changing?
The approved changes include:
- Deactivating all parking sensors, and making downtown parking a “pay to play” environment.
- A 25-cent payment will be required at all meters to start a downtown parking session.
- The first 25 cents provides 15 minutes of parking time and one hour of courtesy time.
- Thereafter, parking will remain $2 per hour, payable by coin or credit card.
- Parking sessions will be limited to a 4-hour maximum at all downtown on-street metered parking spaces.
- The effective rate for four hours of parking would be a maximum of $6.25.
The changes approved Tuesday do not affect fees and procedures in place at the three downtown public parking garages and city-controlled surface parking lots.
On-street metered parking spaces remain free on weekends and after 5 p.m. on weekdays.
The plan was recommended to the Parking Commission by Premier Parking, a consultant hired to provide parking management, and the City Finance & Revenue Department, which supervises parking operations.
According to Stevens, the development of a parking app, which was mentioned in the contract with Premier, is something that the company has used in other markets, but the City of Clarksville has no plans to implement at this time.
Sensors became a ‘maintenance nightmare’
In 2014, in order to promote growth downtown, the City implemented a “first hour free” fee structure, using automatic sensors. The sensors were to turn red after the first hour.
However, the sensors have required a great deal of maintenance and are expensive to replace. They are also often unreliable.
Stevens said that faulty sensors have also resulted in many contested tickets, costing the City and taxpayers.
By charging 25 cents at the beginning of a visit and doing away with the sensors, The City hopes to make downtown parking enforcement cheaper and more reliable.
Making way for the future
The face of downtown Clarksville is changing. Preliminary work has begun on the County’s Multi-Purpose Event Center (MPEC), bringing with it other projects.
In November 2020, the Economic Development Council announced that a Nashville real estate development company is cooperating with the Hand Family on a $50 million mixed-use development of the four-acre site across from the MPEC site.
The project would also include a fully renovated Riverview Inn.
Stevens said that changes like the new parking plan will help pave the way for a smooth transition as work on these projects begins to move forward. Traffic barriers have been placed along 2nd Street, and preliminary work has begun at the site.