Business

Expect Church Street delays as parking deck goes up

By Lightning Reports, Published: July 8, 2022

Motorists who have noticed backups on North Church Street should be prepared for traffic to get worse between now and Labor Day as work progresses on the city's new parking deck.

The construction timeline on the parking deck has remained on schedule, and soon the community will see the structure really begin to take shape. Crews kicked off with site prep and grading earlier this year followed by foundation and utility infrastructure work. The next highly visible step in the process is the delivery and installation of precast concrete sections.

“Most of the work so far has been occurring at or below ground level,” Assistant City Manager Brian Pahle said. “In a few weeks, the parking deck will begin to rise out of the ground, and because the precast sections are built off-site, the process will happen quickly and efficiently.” Assistant City Manager Pahle explained that even though the exterior of the garage will appear complete later in the summer, there are many more months of interior work before it will be functional and open to the public.

The parking deck project will impact traffic along Fifth Avenue and Church Street at various times starting in mid-July through August. A crane will be assembled on-site the week of July 11 and then starting the week of July 18 and for approximately six weeks, pre-cast concrete pieces will be lifted and positioned to build the parking deck structure. During construction, there will be multiple daily deliveries that will block Church Street for very short periods while the crane unloads the sections. At the end of this process, a temporary street closure of Fifth Avenue West will occur to facilitate the garage’s construction. Additional details on street closures will be provided using the city’s notification system and on social media. The public can visit www.hvlnc.gov/alerthvl to sign up for street closure notifications.

The parking garage is scheduled to open in January 2023, at which point, additional pieces of the comprehensive parking management plan will occur. Parking on Main Street and on the avenues between Church and King streets will no longer be free. Some changes will also take place to permit parking.

The first hour of the parking garage will be free followed by a $1.50 hourly rate up to a $10 daily maximum. Surface parking lots follow the same structure with a $5 daily maximum. Parking on Main Street and the avenues will be free for the first 30 minutes followed by a charge of $2 per hour with a 3-hour maximum. The parking garage and metered parking rates were developed through collaboration with Walker Consultants and feedback from downtown businesses, the Downtown Economic Vitality Team, Downtown Advisory Board, and Hendersonville City Council.

Parking kiosks will be installed throughout downtown in late 2022 and will go live after the first of the year. They will function similarly to the existing kiosks currently operating in the city-owned surface lots. Visitors will also have the option to skip the meter and pay by phone using the ParkMobile app.

The proposed rates for monthly parking permits are $60 for 24/7 surface lots, $80 for covered levels of the parking garage and $25 for the top level of the parking garage. An informational meeting will be held later in the year for current parking permit holders and members of the public interested in obtaining a parking permit.

“For many years we have heard from the community through comments, surveys, and studies about the lack of available parking in downtown Hendersonville,” said Pahle. “Main Street parking is currently free and convenient, but rarely available. To support our active business district, we need parking to be convenient and available. Metering the premier parking locations and constructing the parking garage is a sustainable solution for our growing community.”

Additional information and project updates are available at https://www.hendersonvillenc.gov/projects/parking-garage. In preparation for the return to metering main street, the public is encouraged to download the ParkMobile app. The app can currently be used in city-owned surface lots and will be available for use on metered Main Street and avenue spaces in 2023.