Saturday, March 23, 2023–1:46 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Three private companies have submitted proposals to manage parking in Downtown Rome.
The Rome Downtown Development Authority began looking into having a third party come in and manage parking back in December. DDA Director Aundi Lesley said at that time it was no secret that the current parking program is confusing to the general public. In addition, with changing technology, every single piece of parking services equipment is obsolete and needs to be upgraded. That includes kiosks, the license plate reader equipment, and even the LPR vehicle itself.
According to Lesley, as far as the parking experience goes, customers would see very few noticeable changes.
“This would hopefully just alleviate staff time that we spend on enforcing parking,” she said following the March DDA meeting. “Based on the many parking studies that we have done, we think this is the best move for now.”
There is an anticipation of what is to come with the development of the River District and how that might impact parking in general.
“At that time, we might look at making more extreme changes,” Lesley said. “In the meantime, this is just kind of an administrative change and the public should not experience disruption in their parking experience downtown.”
As part of the local sales tax distribution agreement reached in 2022, Floyd County now has 100 percent ownership of the Sixth Avenue Parking deck adjacent to the joint law enforcement center downtown. The county also continues to manage the Fourth Avenue Parking Deck.
During a Rome-Floyd County Joint Services Committee meeting in February, Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord said the use of the Sixth Avenue Deck is going to change since both the city and county police departments are moving to other locations. There will be more capacity for the public to use. He suggested that he and Rome City Manager Sammy Rich talk again about parking because the county is now managing their lots.
It is anticipated that parking will once again be a topic of discussion during April’s joint services committee meeting.
