The City of Flowery Branch conducted a Parking and Mobility study to determine if additional parking spaces are needed in its downtown area.
The city presented its findings at the city council meeting on June 18.
The research conducted as Flowery Branch continues to work to revitalize its downtown area with special events and the introduction of new businesses in the area. The current available areas for parking are reportedly limited, and tend to be exhausted each time the city hosts these events. As it stands, event coordinators rely on vacant city-owned properties as overflow parking, however, these parcels are believed to be key aspects of future revitalization projects in the area.
The initial study discovered the majority of Flowery Branch’s parking activity occurs in street parking spaces. The city’s most recently reconstructed streets such as Main Street between Railroad Avenue and Gainesville Street, Pine Street between Railroad Avenue and Church Street, and Railroad Avenue between Lights Ferry Road and Chestnut Street, have a tendency to see the most traffic and used parking.
In 2023, city leaders began meeting with private developers to explore options for redevelopment in the future.The study anticipates the redevelopment will increase the demand for additional parking.
The study estimated the city currently has roughly 915 available spaces in the downtown area. Of those 916 spaces, 207 are located south of SR 13, separated from downtown by the Norfolk Southern rail corridor. The study noted these spaces were mostly used by employees of patrons of businesses.
Considering spaces north of SR 13 only, the area has an estimated 709 spaces. Roughly 223 of those are on-street spaces, with 209 formally-designated spaces, and 14 informal spaces used to support parking, meaning they were not used on a day-to-day basis, but were used during special events.
While the summary did recommend several strategies to the council to improve parking in the area, the study did not immediately suggest a parking deck is needed. Instead, the summary suggested the city initially try to formalize informal parking, as well as putting an emphasis on lighter parking management strategies.
No action has been taken at this time.
