Parking an issue in downtown Royston

At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Royston Mayor and Council, Juanita Sullivan, owner of Winnie J’s Boutique, located at 30 Hartwell Highway, addressed council members in reference to parking issues in the downtown area.

According to Sullivan, she has had customers call to tell her they would have to come back later because there was no place to park.

Sullivan then suggested the city limit parking in the downtown area to two hours during daytime business hours, saying that would give customers plenty of time for appointments and no affect those living in loft apartments in the downtown area.

Along with the time limi to parking, Sullivan also suggested closing off Railroad Street behind Mayberry Tire and turning the area into additonal parking.

Royston Mayor David Jordan addressed the issue, first by saying he did understand the plight of downtown business owners.

“Well, I believe the merchants have a legitimate concern, and it’s a blessing that at times we do have some parking issues in downtown Royston, but that’s a sign of good growth and we want to have controlled growth. I think the city is looking at every option we can to make parking more convenient for our customers who come in to our merchants,” Jordan said.

The mayor then offered a slightly different perspective on the downtown area.

“In looking at the situation, one thing we have to take into consideration is small towns of America have all changed. The big box stores with the large parking lots have sort of changed the attitudes of merchants and consumers on how they park and how they interact and how they get to those services,” Jordan said.

Jordan said in order to come up with the best solution, it is necessary to look forward at the potential uses for downtown areas.

“I think what we’re going to see in downtowns in America like Royston, sort of be reborn in mixed development. We’re seeing housing, we’re seeing professional offices, and not just merchants, but restaurants, the traffic patterns are different, so what we have to consider is the future use of these developments,” Jordan said.

Finally, the mayor said, “Royston has been very blessed to have investors come in and redevelop the lofts into residential areas and this is a great thing to see these buildings repurposed. We’re seeing small restaurants pop up and so there are times when there is peak demand for parking and we can see that that will be a concern for all involved and Royston’s looking at every option we can to make that better,” he said.

Jordan did not give a time frame for when options might be considered by council.