Alpharetta To Impose 2-Hour Time Limit For On-Street Parking

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Beginning July 6, two-hour time limits will be implemented on most on-street parking spaces in downtown Alpharetta.

The time limits, which will be effective from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, will also be enforced on spaces in the public parking lot located on Old Roswell Street that is centrally located to many businesses.

The time limits are part of an effort by the city to make it easier for downtown Alpharetta business customers to quickly and easily find convenient parking.

“In looking at the parking situation in our downtown core, we quickly discovered that the majority of the best parking spaces are being taken up by employees of the businesses,” said Samir Abdullahi, the city’s economic development manager. “By 9:30 on an average weekday morning, before most of our downtown merchants open their doors to the public, an average of 94 percent of these spaces are occupied, and the vehicles remain in those spaces for the majority of the day. The most convenient parking is not available for customers, and that is causing some to not visit downtown Alpharetta.”

Alpharetta’s recently adopted downtown master plan, which also recommended that a parking time management program be started, noted that each well-managed, on-street parking space in downtown Alpharetta would translate into more than $100,000 in annual sales for downtown businesses.

According to city officials, the goal is to encourage employees of downtown businesses to park in outlying parking lots or the 450-space parking deck that is adjacent to Alpharetta City Hall. Doing so will put in play for customers 120 prime spaces immediately adjacent to businesses.

“This type of parking management is common in downtown areas,” Abdullahi added. “In these settings, parking spaces translate into sales, and when businesses begin to lose customers because parking is hard to find the business owners start asking for parking management. As a business owner, who would you want to have parked in front of your store or restaurant, the customer who wants to buy from you or the employee who you are paying to be at work?”

To enforce this new stipulation, the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety will use a three-tiered system of education/warnings followed by citations, said Assistant City Administrator James Drinkard.

That system includes:

• Tier 1 (green warning): The warning card uses friendly language and assumes the individual is simply not aware of the time limit. The card begins with the phrase, “Thank you for visiting Downtown Alpharetta. We value your time and hope that you value thetime of others.” It goes on to explain the time limits on parking in these locations and advises where the motorist can find parking that is not time restricted. On the back of the card a map is displayed that illustrates where the two primary unrestricted parking areas are located.
• Tier 2 (yellow warning): The warning uses friendly language that assumes the motorist made an error / forgot about the time limit. It, again, reminds of the locations of the unrestricted parking and provides the map on the back.
• Tier 3 (red warning): The warning uses firm language and warns that all further violations will result in a citation and fine. It, again, provides the locations of unrestricted parking and features the map on the back.

“The warnings and citations are based upon license plate numbers, so if a driver receives a warning and then violates the time limit again even a year or two later, they will receive the Tier 2 warning,” Drinkard added.

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