Staff photo by Erin O. Smith / Brittany Wilkins holds her 2-year-old son Leo Anderson as she pays for parking at a meter on Broad Street in downtown Chattanooga. A new study found that while people complain about parking challenges, there's still a lot of spaces that sit unused.

Fewer than a third of the 43,000 parking spaces in downtown Chattanooga are available to the general public, helping to create nagging shortages in parts of the central city, a new study shows.

To ease parking crunches, the study calls for better managing spaces, crafting public-private sharing agreements with landowners, and possibly extending CARTA shuttle service to areas including Erlanger hospital or along Main Street.

Also, the report suggests new parking garages in parts of downtown, including an idea for a 1,700-space deck on an existing school athletic field near Erlanger hospital. A new field, complete with bleachers, could be rebuilt atop the garage.

In addition, an M.L. King Boulevard developer said he's ready to pursue a public-private partnership for a 575-space garage at Douglas and 10th streets to provide more spaces in that corridor.

The $250,000, wide-ranging parking study, commissioned by The River City Co. and begun about a year ago, is the most in-depth downtown in about two decades.

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Kim White, who heads River City, said the nonprofit redevelopment group will work with the city and others on an "implementation committee" looking at short-, mid- and long-term actions.

THE STUDY Key findings › Less than one-third of parking spaces downtown are publicly available. › UTC and the Erlanger and Siskin hospital areas will grow to exhaust their current supply of parking spaces. › The M.L. King district lacks publicly available parking. › Southside residential streets face spillover demand from growth. Recommendations › Balance pricing to meet demand by exploring higher on-street parking rates in some areas. › Introduce paid on-street parking in Southside and lower the rates in the M.L. King corridor. › Support sharing agreements with private landholders. › Position CARTA to offer more innovative services. › Add parking supply such as garages in strategic areas. › New garages have spaces for shared public use.

"It's great to have data now," White said.

The study by San Francisco-based consultant Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates factored in the array of new housing and other development coming up downtown and a doubling of residents.

"The study is more valuable if we look forward," said Joel Mann, senior associate for the firm. "Are we ready for what's coming in the future?"

One telling finding was that some two-thirds of parking spaces downtown are reserved for private uses and not public availability.

Management

At the same time, the study found that, while people complain about parking challenges, there's still a lot of spaces sitting unused.

"Maybe the issue is management" of the spaces, Mann said.

Downtown currently doesn't face a critical, district-wide shortage of parking, as supply and demand dynamics are uneven, the study said. That said, some areas do and will face parking challenges when facilities are used fully during peak times, according to the report.

"There is room for efficiency through different pricing and management techniques, especially adjusting on-street pricing and the times of day that regulations are in effect," the study said.

The study said sharing options involving private landholders might help unlock more spaces for the public's use. For example, this could include some of the lots managed by Republic Parking or even use of private parking garages, such as the Unum decks, when they're not heavily needed by the insurer.

To view the study: www.rivercitycompany.com/new/pdf/ChattanoogaParkingStudyReport_JAN2018.pdf

Amy Donahue, River City's marketing director, said the study calls for a manage first, then build approach.

"It's managing better what we currently have," she said. "That's one of the biggest takeaways."

Brent Matthews, Chattanooga Parking Authority director, said some steps are simple, such as putting up signs that tell how many available spaces there are in public garages.

When that was done on a CARTA North Shore garage, business picked up quite a bit, he said.

River City Vice President Jim Williamson said color-coded signs — green means open to the public — along with use of updated parking apps can help.

"That plus technology can go a really long way," he said.

However, some restaurateurs and others have complained about a lack of parking north of Fourth Street, and they've cited that as a reason for the closing of eateries in that area.

Pricing

The report calls for adjusting prices on some on-street parking, as well as extending hours the pricing is in effect, such as to 9 p.m. At the same time, the limits on how long a vehicle can stay at one spot could go away.

"When the pricing of the most desirable spaces — street spaces and surface lots near major destinations — is set appropriately, customers planning longer stays in a parking space may choose less expensive parking if it is available," the study said.

Mann said pricing of some spaces that aren't used much could go down.

Josh Patton, who owns the Chicken Salad Chick eatery downtown, agrees more management is needed. If a nearby garage is empty after the typical work day or weekends, he said, why not charge $1 and let people park there at night or all day Saturday and Sunday?

"It seems like a win-win," Patton said.

When it comes to on-street parking, increasing pricing is OK, but there need to be provisions for people who want to pick up an order or step into a bank for 15 minutes, he said.

Concerning the use of CARTA, while the transit system has long operated its downtown shuttle, the study said it doesn't have resources to offer a lot more service or even test new connections.

Added links such as to the Erlanger area or along Main Street offer "a pivotal opportunity" for CARTA to become a more holistic provider, the study said.

Garages

The study called for potential partnerships to build facilities that not only serve multiple users but also handle future development.

It cited a possible shared garage serving Erlanger and Siskin hospitals and potentially the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the Chattanooga- Hamilton County Health Department. The study mentions using the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences field off Third Street for a garage and then rebuilding the field atop the deck.

White said a lot depends on finding a developer for such a project.

Also, Chris Curtis, the developer of the Douglas Heights student housing project off M.L. King Boulevard near UTC, said parking is "a major hurdle" to growth of that corridor.

He suggested using brownfield tax-increment financing for a 575-car garage at 10th Street and Douglas to service the entire area.

"The private sector cannot do this alone," Curtis said. "We need to get local government support."

Curtis said such a garage would "augment future development we want to do and future development by surrounding property owners."

Seth Champion, who owns the Champy's Famous Fried Chicken restaurant on M.L. King Boulevard, said there's not enough parking in the district.

"There's cars parked up and down the street all over the place," he said. "If the area is planning to continue to grow as hoped for, there's definitely a tremendous need for parking. A deck would be a great addition."

Contact staff writer Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.