New Doctors Office To Allow For More Public Parking in Cookeville

A new doctors office being constructed in Cookeville will allow for additional parking in the city’s downtown area.

City Manager Mike Davidson said Dr. Anju Mendiratta will allow the city to use her future parking spaces along West 1st Street and North Oak Avenue.

“The city continues to look for property in that area. Hopefully one day we’ll be able to find something that fits within the city’s budget,” Davidson said. “When [Dr. Mendiratta] met with the Planning Department, I sat in on that meeting and I wondered if there was a way to work out an arrangement where the city could use one of those parking lots that would support her medical office.”

The idea was proposed to the Cookeville City Council for approval during Thursday’s meeting. Council members approved the motion 4-0 with Vice Mayor Laurin Wheaton absent from the meeting.

Davidson said the agreement will allow the public to use up to 36 parking spaces after business hours.

“The spaces would be available on the evenings Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m., then on the weekends starting Friday night through Monday morning from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m.,” Davidson said. “Her office complex is open on many of the holidays. It’s closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas days so it would be available to the public on those days as well. We’ll install signage and way-finding for the public to be able to locate that parking lot, and the public will know it’s available.”

The agreement also requires the city to relocate and adjust utilities running through the site of the proposed office complex.

“The electric department has agreed to relocate those overhead utility lines, move those, and make them underground,” Davidson said. “Also, there is a two-inch waterline on Hickory Avenue that needs to be upgraded. The Water Department was willing to do it and move it to a six-inch line. The initial agreement is for 15 years. After the initial term, if both parties agree, we can renew it.”

The city will also be responsible for repairing any potholes that may develop in the shared parking lot. City officials will continue looking at the possibility of creating more parking spaces in the downtown area.

Dr. Mendiratta’s new office will be located at 115 North Hickory Avenue adjacent to the future shared lots.