ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Oh, parking in Downtown St. Augustine.
The first thing people will say about this topic is, "there's not enough of it."
The City of St. Augustine wants to know what you think of parking in the city, and not just that you think there needs to be more spaces.
"We’re really trying to figure out people’s tolerance levels," said Amy Skinner, Director of Planning and Building for the city of St. Augustine.
"We’re trying to update our parking code," she said. It's a code that she says hasn’t seen a big revamp since the 1970s, when far fewer people visited the old city.
The city has created a short online survey, and so far Skinner said more people have responded to it than any other survey the city has created.
It asks about parking lots, and do you think they are a blight to a neighborhood?
"You know, they can be pretty ugly," Skinner nodded.
The city is looking at parking lots not just in downtown, but along U.S. 1 as well. And is there a better use for the land?
"Are they really contributing to the economy besides just the fee? They can be used for other uses such as green spaces," Skinner noted.
What if big parking lots were part-park and part-satellite shuttle stops… and shuttles then carried you around town or into downtown?
"If everything is paved over, like the old saying goes, 'paving paradise to build a parking lot'. If everything is paved over, then water doesn’t have places to go," Skinner noted.
Water and flooding are certainly issues throughout the city. Aesthetics, flooding, and traffic congestion are issues the city feels it could address by taking on parking.
"We’re trying to balance a range of solutions to the issues we have here in downtown," Skinner said.
The deadline to participate in the survey is April 16.