Ever had trouble finding parking at the Chapel Hill Public Library?

You’re not the only one, but what do you expect when the library’s popular location near Estes and Franklin street gets around 1,800 daily visitors?

People might say that not having enough space for parking is a good problem for the library to have; it means people are using the town’s facilities.

But while that might be true, library director Susan Brown said, it’s a problem that needs addressing, nonetheless.

“Parking is a major pain point for us at the library,” Brown said. “It’s our number one complaint. So we’re working on a multi-step, phased-in approach to add in more parking.”

Phase one will begin this Spring, with re-marking of the upper parking deck to one-way and adding eight spaces to the back end of the lot. The project is estimated to begin this April, and will cost around $50,000.

Phase two is significantly larger and will involve adding 16 parking spaces to the upper deck. Funding for that project has not yet been identified but might come from the Capital Improvement Program after fiscal year 2020.

“And that’s going to involve cutting a few trees; it’s going to involve a bio-retention pond; it’s going to involve grading and stormwater, so that second phase is longer. But what we can do very soon with the resources we have is add eight parking spaces up top.”

Phase one might also include an off-site kiosk for patrons to pick-up and drop-off library materials, but that project is dependent on a pending grant application.

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