Residential Parking Districts To Be Considered Thursday

Cookeville City Council will consider the proposed residential parking districts Thursday night.

But the catalyst for the creation of the districts might not now qualify.

The ordinance would given citizens the opportunity to petition the planning commission and the council to create a special parking district. The 8th Street corridor has seen issues with Tennessee Tech student parking in the last year. But City Manager James Mills said recent observations show less issues.

“Probably wouldn’t qualify right now,” Mills said. “We’ve been through there and there’s not much parking. That’s probably because of COVID and the amount of online classes that are going on.
If I was that neighborhood, I probably wouldn’t come right away with an application, because it probably wouldn’t be.”

A traffic study would be commissioned once a group of citizens petitioned the group. Council Member Eric Walker said he did not want to see the district pass and then see it fail for 8th Street residents.

“I would just hate to see us do this without communicating to the residents there,” Walker said.

Council Member Mark Miller said he would like to see the city staff consider the need for a traffic enforcement officer to deal with districts and other parking issues in the community.

Mills said the city would not actively patrol the residential parking districts for parking violations.

“We don’t have parking officers that concentrate just specifically on parking violations,” Mills said. “If a neighbor called about a parking violation, then if they have the time they would respond. They’re won’t be regular patrols of just this particular street.”