Toccoa Commissioners Nix 2-Hour Parking – For Now

At the July 22 Meeting of the Toccoa City Commission, commissioners heard the official presentation of the 2024 Downtown Toccoa Parking Study from Toccoa Planning Director Jeremy Ward.

Ward outlined the physical vehicle counts conducted by himself and Toccoa Main Street Director Kristen Deal during the months of January through May of this year. During the various business hour visits made to six specific parking locations in the direct downtown retail area, vehicle counts showed that the average occupancy rate for those parking areas was 64.8%. 

Ward then outlined the various recommendations included in the study, at the recommendation of city staff, and the Downtown Development authority and volunteer advisory committee members; these recommendations include:

• Encouraging  business owners and apartment dwellers to park in lots, instead of streets;
• Offering shuttle rides from outer parking lots for the handicapped or elderly during the largest events of the year;
• Installing signs on the downtown public lots that indicate they are free, public parking;
• Installing bicycle racks at the Tugalo Street Greenspace and in the passageway; Exploring the creation of shared-use path connecting downtown to other sectors, expanding the ability to visit downtown without driving, thus freeing parking spaces;
• Maintaining, improving, and potentially putting  signage on underutilized downtown parking (i.e. Railroad Street & Foreacre Street).
• Improving  the breezeways between the Greenspace and Doyle and W. Foreacre Lot and Doyle; and improving the walk from the E. Foreacre Lot to Sage.

In discussing the recommendation involving the most active change to the status quo, Ward talked about the possibility of instituting a 2-hour parking limit in downtown Toccoa.

That recommendation was offered as three options, with the first option, originally suggested by the planning department, would institute 2 hour parking on the central portion of Doyle Street only, between Pond and Sage Streets. The other two recommendations, suggested by Downtown Development Authority members and advisory board members, increased the range of the potential 2-hour parking limit to large areas of downtown Toccoa. 

Commissioners discussed multiple factors, such as the impact of court attendance on parking, and discussing whether the parking study needed to be extended to gain an overview of the parking situation in downtown not only during the first half of the year, which is considered the slower part of the year.

Commissioners agreed that examining the parking situation during the second  half of the year, as Toccoa moves into a season with greatly increased tourism impact, as well as a number of festivals, events and community activities, was a good idea, and came to a consensus that the Planning and Main Street Departments should duplicate their efforts for January – May to give an overview of the parking situation in downtown during the second half of the year.

Commissioners also said holding off on instituting a significant change such as a parking time limit would give city leadership and staff, and citizens, to adjust to the Greenspace being open, along with the parking spaces that have been opened back up with the opening of the Green Space.