Almost 40, including several downtown Ellijay business owners, attended a Tuesday town hall meeting to hear details and give feedback about an upcoming trial period during which parking spaces in front of shops on the downtown roundabout will be inaccessible.
The Ellijay Downtown Development Authority (DDA, who presented the town hall meeting, plans to oversee the no-roundabout-parking test run from the Apple Festival to the Light Up Ellijay event in late November.
Reece Sanford, DDA chairman, opened the meeting by explaining to those gathered at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall the role of the city advisory board comprised of himself, Josh Moyers, Sarah Burnette, Ellen Grant, Keith Nunn and Melinda Hadden.
“We’re a public body appointed by the city council to improve the quality of life in downtown Ellijay. We’re also volunteers, (and) our role is to make recommendations,” he said.
“This process began as a result of public safety concerns. When it was first brought up, one of the things we talked about was when the square was designed, Ellijay was literally a one-horse town. Today, Gilmer County has about 30,000 residents and about 10,000 tourists that converge every weekend on that same square.”
Sanford said the test run, in which all 18 spaces in front of businesses on the roundabout will be blocked off, resulted from almost a year of evaluating ways to improve growing traffic congestion downtown.
“We’ve reviewed reports from two separate third parties, one completed in 2019 and one that’s in process in 2021. We’ve consulted with the Joint Development Authority, the police department and city council. We’ve met privately with local business owners. A lot of effort has gone into this,” he added. “The issue is really about infrastructure that was built for yesterday that is now being stressed by the pressures of today. Who knows what tomorrow is going to look like?”
Sanford said the DDA sees it as “reallocating,” not reducing downtown parking. New signs have been put up to direct motorists to the Dalton State/county courthouse lot and a Spring Street lot near the courthouse that can now be used for public parking on weekends. Both lots normally have enough available parking to compensate for the 18 roundabout spaces, Sanford noted.
“There are five arteries of traffic converging on this one circular area, the roundabout. There are 10 crosswalks and 18 parking spots in that area. At any point, somebody could back out into oncoming traffic or a crosswalk,” he added. “In 2021, there have been three incidents. One, recently, where a pedestrian was struck. This is only in the roundabout. It doesn’t include other incidents in the downtown business district where pedestrians have been struck by vehicles.”
Sanford said one handicapped space is included in that 18, and handicapped parking and accessibility is being taken into account by the DDA.
The way wheelchairs have to be unloaded along the roundabout presents additional safety concerns, and the DDA has discussed such additions as flashing crosswalks, wider sidewalks and more handicapped parking spaces, he noted.
Sheryl Adams, co-owner of Mountain Treasures, said roundabout parking spaces are used constantly by shoppers, and her business gets a good amount of drive-up customers who just want to pick up a quick gift.
“What brings everybody to Ellijay? Why do people come here? They’re coming downtown. Of course we’re going to have the traffic. We’ve been working on this for the past eight years, trying to get everybody here,” Adams said. “It’s going to really impact our business very much. We have a small town charm, and we need to keep it.”
Adams told DDA members that drivers not knowing how to properly navigate the roundabout is a problem.
“The roundabout flips them out. They don’t know what to do. If it was marked clearly or if there was designated lanes or a speed limit sign posted,” she suggested.
Sanford said those suggestions have also been discussed as part of an ongoing effort to improve the roundabout.
City Barber Shop owner Marcel Lowery and Ray Norton, owner of Beds Etc., both said roundabout parking is often used by elderly customers.
“Fifty percent of my customers are senior citizens. They’re on walking sticks, wheelchairs and walkers. They can’t walk that far,” said Lowery. “We need those parking places. I’ve been there 30 years, and I’ve seen only two accidents, fender benders.”
“I’m highly opposed to what you’re trying to do,” said Norton. “I’ve seen them go three wide around the roundabout, so there’s plenty of room to back out (with) no problem.”
Judy Wilson, owner of Hometown Florist and Yesterday’s Decor, said a parking lot next to her businesses on River Street is “used and abused,” and reducing nearby parking will put further strain on that lot.
“I cannot afford to fix that parking lot. My customers have nowhere to park now. If you do away with those spaces, they will not have parking spaces in the future,” she added.
Several of the business owners appeared surprised when hearing that the upcoming no-parking trial period will not last just the two Apple Festival/Apple Arts weekends, but almost two months including weekends and weekdays.
“During our busiest time of the year, is this when it has to be done?” asked Adams.
“You’re going to kill our businesses,” said Lowery.
River Street Tavern owner Brad Simmons said River Street would be a better place to test the no-parking idea.
“If you want a test market, test River Street. We’ll give it to you. Research shows you can’t cross our crosswalks with a wheelchair (because they) are too high. Let us have some unloading stuff during certain times, but if you want to test it, test it there,” he said.
Tom Crawford, an Ellijay City Councilman, said he was speaking at the town hall as a citizen, not a councilmember. Crawford said removing the parking spaces would forever change downtown Ellijay’s small town image.
“You come into the roundabout, and there’s cars there. If it’s empty, it says ‘we’re not open for business,’” Crawford said.
Downtown resident Aubrey Clark said it seems like a “no-brainer” to, instead, turn the 18 roundabout spaces into nine handicapped spaces.
“You’re going to cut down the traffic and open up all those spaces to people (who need them). It just seems like a win-win,” he said.
Ellijay resident Sherry Hedden said she’s not clear on how eliminating the parking spots will reduce traffic, which is really the problem when using crosswalks. “You’ve got all these different arteries feeding at one time. Anytime someone slams on their brakes, it causes a ripple effect through those arteries. A car backs out, then someone almost rear ends them and slams on their brakes, and everyone slams their brakes. It really doesn’t flow efficiently,” Sanford said.
Big trucks using the roundabout is also a concern, Hedden said. That opinion was shared by local resident Theresa Montaldo, who suggested a truck route needs to be built.
Sanford said that idea has been, and is still being, discussed at different levels, but it’s beyond the DDA’s capability.
When asked if the type of metal barricades normally used for downtown parades will be used for the test period, Sanford said the DDA is looking at using trough planters as barricades.
“That’s how the City of Jasper has done this very same thing,” he said.
Sanford told the crowd that improving safety downtown is a major issue with a lot of interconnected pieces.
“Any little bit of pressure you can relieve incrementally helps the problem before it gets worse. This is not going to be the major solution that fixes everything. Maybe it takes it from 100 percent to 90,” he said.
The no-parking trial period is just that, and there could be factors from it that cause the project not to continue any further, Sanford noted.