CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – At a Clarksville Parking Commission special called meeting Tuesday afternoon, the group voted to do away with free Monday parking, as well as free Friday parking around the Christmas shopping season.

This decision was made in light of their recent decision to provide free two-hour parking for users of the Park Mobile app, a move that goes into effect Friday. Downtown parking remains free after 5 p.m. daily, and all day Saturdays and Sundays.

‘Fostering an environment of growth’

A couple of residents came to show gratitude for the decision to allow two-hour free parking.

“That is a critical thing that we have heard more excitement about and more feedback from our customers, from the general public, just people in passing about how important that is. … It’s just restrictive to get downtown. It’s restrictive to be downtown,” said Matt Cunningham, owner of Old Glory Distillery Co. and brother of Wes Cunningham, who owns Strawberry Alley Ale Works and The Mailroom.

Cunningham spoke about businesses struggling to keep their doors open due to decreased foot traffic. He said the historic downtown is the only place in the downtown area that is restrictive to get to, and two-hour free parking will help alleviate that.

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Charles Uffelman, political director for the Tennessee Democratic Party and downtown resident, said, “I do think that the role of city government should be about fostering an environment of growth for all of our businesses.”

Uffelman also spoke on two-hour free parking and how long it will take to show results. “The second thing I’ll ask is that you give this a real shot over the course of the calendar year. Because you’re going to start this in August, you won’t really understand how it impacts this area, how it impacts these businesses, until you see it through to the next July,” he said.

Complications with new decision

While most of the issues revolving around free parking through the Park Mobile app were ironed out, a few more kinks in the plan have to be untangled.

The Park Mobile app is capable of providing two-hour free parking, but users have to turn on notifications to keep up with their timer if they end up being downtown for more than two hours. If the user does not renew their pass before the time runs out, they cannot start another parking session for the next 24-hour period. There is yet to be a solution to this besides users being responsible over when their time is up.

“Unfortunately, it is going to be bumpy. … We’re going to need patience from our business owners, from our residents in this so we can figure out the best ways to do this,” said Mayor Joe Pitts, who was in attendance at the meeting.

Another point of discussion was possibly charging users of the app the 35-cent convenience fee. Commission member Darla Knight fought against this, saying that it would no longer be free parking at that point.

Ultimately, the Parking Commission decided to absorb the 35-cent fee, making sure users did not have to pay anything during their free two-hour session.

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