South Forest Drive parking lot plan rejected

After several weeks on the agenda, the City Council held a public hearing over parking issues on South Forest Drive on Nov. 17. Residents had previously brought complaints to the city that employees and customers of GianMarco’s were parking along their neighborhood street, blocking other cars and causing high traffic volumes.

Ward 3 Place 2 Representative Walter Jones presented a possible solution to the problem by creating five parking spaces on the “pocket park” directly behind GianMarco’s. The proposed parking space design would not use the entirety of the park’s area but would require removal of shrubbery on the city-owned lot.

South Forest Drive resident Roland Lewis spoke against this proposal, saying that children on the street play in that park frequently and adding parking spaces would only increase traffic on the road. He also noted that since GianMarco’s began using employee and valet customer parking at the Jefferson County satellite courthouse, the problem had been reduced.

Ward 4 Place 1 Representative Barry Smith and Ward 2 Place 2 Representative Vance Moody agreed with Lewis about the potential for increased traffic and were unconvinced that five spaces would make a significant impact on the problem. Mayor Scott McBrayer updated the council on the progress of the nearby Short Saulter Road project, which includes 16 new parking spaces.

When McBrayer said the project was scheduled for completion by the end of the year, the council voted to table the issue until they could see if the Short Saulter project had an effect on parking and traffic for the residential street.