The City of Nacogdoches Main Street Program will be hosting a “town hall” style meeting on Tuesday, September 17th at 9 a.m. The meeting, which will take place in the Nacogdoches City Commission Chambers, 202 E. Pilar Street, is open to anyone interested in hearing or voicing their opinions concerning parking in historic downtown Nacogdoches. “We want to give everyone the opportunity to have their voice heard, and what better way to do that than to host a town hall meeting,” said Main Street Manager, Sarah O’Brien.
Downtown Nacogdoches currently has over 100 on-street parking spots located on the red brick streets; there is a two-hour parking limit, which is currently not enforced. Visitors to the Oldest Town in Texas can have a temporary parking pass issued to them, or park in one of the 200 plus additional spaces located in the public lots downtown. With an influx of new residents and business in the downtown district, parking issues have once again come to the forefront. While strict enforcement is an option, City engineering, Main Street, Planning and Police department staff would like to see the two hour limit removed from the district and allow downtowners to “play nice.” “Downtown revitalization experts across the country recommend no parking limit(s) in downtown districts. It is simply unwelcoming. We have ample parking for today’s and even next year’s needs downtown, if residents and current businesses would utilize off street parking and play fair, we could resolve many of our issues. No downtowner will be pleased with strict enforcement,” said O’Brien. City staff as always will be working on long range planning goals to address future parking needs of the downtown area as we continue to grow.
Representatives from the Nacogdoches Police Department, Main Street Program, and the Nacogdoches Convention & Visitors Bureau will be present at the meeting. The Main Street program welcomes anyone interested in downtown parking to join us at the Town Hall Meeting.For more information about downtown parking or to voice your opinion you may contact Sarah O’Brien, Main Street Manager, at 559-2573 or obriens@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us.