Changing the zoning of North Court Street near East Carpenter Street could result in the loss of 70 to 75 commercial parking spaces, Athens City Council members said yesterday.
The Athens Planning Commission recommended changing the zoning of North Court Street from East Carpenter Street to Fern Street to be the same as the rest of North Court Street. The zoning of North Court Street near Washington Street does not require businesses there to provide their own parking, whereas zoning in the far north end does.
If council members follow through with the commission's recommendations, none of the businesses whose properties touch North Court Street would have to provide their own commercial parking. Business and property owners would be able to choose whether to supply parking for their customers, use the spaces for residents or expand their buildings, said Councilwoman Debbie Phillips, D-4th Ward.
Some Athens residents in the northern neighborhoods voiced their concerns over the possibility of this move. Allowing more residential parking could lead to more use of property for residential purposes, which would increase the density of the Uptown area's population, though it was never meant to be used as a major living area, said Athens resident Christine Chandler.
Without sufficient parking near the north end of Court Street for businesses, customers might begin to see the residential neighborhoods nearby as free and closer parking, another resident said.
Council members will look at changing the zoning ordinances to allow businesses on North Court Street within 500 feet of the garage to not have to provide their own commercial parking spaces instead of the recommendation, Phillips said.
In other council news, power outages have decreased from a little less than three hours per customer on average for Athens customers during a 12-month period to 1.7 hours of outages in 12 months, American Electric Power representatives said yesterday. These numbers constitute the amount of sustained outages lasting longer than 5 minutes. Three substations and other equipment that serve Athens underwent $1.3 million in improvements to cause this decrease, they said.
17 Archives
Rebecca Black
