Alachua To Implement Parking Time Limits on Main Street

ALACHUA – The Alachua City Commission sitting as the Alachua Community Redevelopment Agency voted unanimously to approve of a “test run” for parking time limits on a portion of the town’s Main Street.

Once in effect, parking in the affected area would be limited to two hours per day. The move comes in response to complaints by a few business owners that some people have been parking all day in select areas of Main Street.

The measure calls for the installation of six 24” x 18” two-hour parking signs to be installed in the larger landscape beds on the west side of Main Street from Northwest 150^th Avenue to the area across and north of the Alachua Chamber of Commerce. In addition to the installation of signs, the commission voted to amend existing city codes to give effect to the restrictions.

Commissioners directed that an ordinance be drafted with the staff’s suggested language, which states, “No person shall park a vehicle on the public right-of-way of Main Street, between the public right-of-way of Northwest 150^th Avenue and 250 feet north of the public right-of-way of Northwest 147^th Avenue, for a period of time longer than 120 minutes between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., when signs are erected in each block giving notice thereof.”

The commission appeared wary of implementing any enforcement mechanism, concerned that ticketing violators could result in ill will with the public visiting Main Street. The commission also cautioned the staff against pursuing technology measures that would track individual parking habits. Instead, commissioners expressed a desire to gain voluntary compliance with short term parking by sending letters to the businesses explaining the implementation of the new rules and the placement of signs in the affected sections.

The cost of the parking signs is estimated at $350.

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