Fight Over Five Points Parking Spaces Will Continue

The fight over who controls 22 parking spaces in Five Points continues.

Athens Clarke County officials believe that Judge Penn McWhorter erred when he ruled in favor of Barry Stiles, who owns the Henrietta Apartment Building on Lumpkin Street, and they plan to appeal his ruling giving him control of the parking spaces, according to a story in the Athens Banner Herald.

The judge said that when Stiles’ father signed an agreement in 1954, to create the Lumpkin Street spaces, he wasn't given up control of the property indefinitely, the story says. Stiles owns part of the land and the county owns part of the land where the spaces are.

Attorney Thomas Mitchell, who represents the county, says a judge can’t give a private property owner control of public land, the story says. He has asked the judge for a new trial. If the judge rules against Athens Clarke County, the story says, officials will appeal his ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court.

In the meantime, patrons will continue to pay to park in the Lumpkin Street spaces at night or to patronize the businesses in the building in the day.