The Town of Hillsborough adopted a parking study assessing its parking supply and demand across downtown and West Hillsborough earlier this month.
The study from Nelson Nygaard Consulting, which was reviewed by the town’s Board of Commissioners on Sep. 8, included recommended strategies for optimizing existing parking options as the town plans for future growth. On behalf of the firm, Iain Banks said Hillsborough does not necessarily need to build more parking structures, but better utilize what it already has through new technology systems, management policies, and operational procedures.
“Generally, people think that there’s enough parking in Hillsborough except for special event days, and that’s probably what you would come to expect,” Banks said at the meeting. “Locals tend to know this. They tend to plan accordingly for that. Either that or they’ve got their secret little parking space that they don’t want to tell anyone about.”
The town’s Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted the study, with several members of the board praising its detail.
“The last time I sat through a parking study, we talked about the availability of parking,” Commissioner Kathleen Ferguson said. “But to actually have it well documented in a form that can be communicated well with residents, with the merchants, with the county, with stakeholders, and then come with clear recommendations [that are] pretty segmented. This was well, well done.”
Hillsborough launched the parking study in April to help develop a long-term parking management strategy to consider alongside planning initiatives and projects. While lots further from the downtown core are often underutilized during the day, Banks said parking spaces along West King Street and Churton Street can reach capacity every day of the week.
Parking spaces along South Churton Street can near capacity during peak 9 to 5 weekday hours. (Image via Nelson Nygaard Consulting.)
Parking spaces downtown can near capacity during peak weekend hours. (Image via Nelson Nygaard Consulting.)
“The weekday peak as well as the weekend peak were essentially the same in sort of that 12 to 2pm period,” Banks explained. “So, it’s still very much around those destinations for lunch and people being out and about during that lunch hour doing activities.”
According to the study’s public engagement survey, people typically park downtown for a couple hours at a time, primarily to shop and eat. Banks said visitors often have a harder time finding spots, parking several blocks from their destinations.
The parking study included public engagement opportunities, like surveying the community about their parking habits in Hillsborough. (Image via Nelson Nygaard Consulting.)
Among the proposed recommendations is for the town to designate a parking manager to help facilitate shared parking agreements between the town and private owners. Using banks as a common example, Banks said some lots downtown are currently not being utilized outside business hours. He also recommended Hillsborough’s First Baptist Church as a potential lot for a shared agreement.
“In a lot of our engagement with the public, particularly locals, they were like, ‘We just parked there [because] we know it’s not going to be used outside of Sundays or outside of special events,’” Banks said. “‘We park there and we just walk into town.’ So being able to formalize some of those agreements enables you to have a lot more public available parking without the cost of having to build additional parking.“
Similarly, while much of the Eno River Parking Deck off Nash and Kollack Street is free to the public, Banks said the town could coordinate with the county to allow public access to its employee spots during evenings, weekends, and special events.
Banks said another concern raised in stakeholder meetings is how customers and employees often compete for spots closest to the buildings. In addition to employee incentive programs, urging workers to park in further lots, he said the town could also add on-street parking for short-term, drop-off, and public and private valet.
“If someone can drop their car off on Churton and a valet goes and drives it three blocks away, that could be an attractive way to utilize those parking lots that you have,” Banks said. “And then employee transportation support as well.”
Other recommendations include creating a simplified parking and access map, as well as methods for seeing how many spaces are available in lots that fill up quickly, either on the town’s website or via an app.
The study’s action plan details short, medium, and long-term strategies for each recommendation. Hillsborough Mayor Mark Bell asked which would be most cost-efficient for the town, citing the expensive nature of some. Planning and Economic Development Manager Shannan Campbell said the town will likely prioritize the easiest and most affordable options first.
“So I think it may not be that we get the fancy sign, the little counters [installed] immediately,” Campbell said. “But maybe we do get that [sign saying] the deck is full or this many spaces are open before you pull in there. So that may be a multi-phased approach. Some of these may have to be right-sized for us based on our budgets.”
To view the full board meeting, click here.
To learn more about Hillsborough’s parking study, click here.
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