No City Business, Better Park Elsewhere

If you don't have business to conduct with the city, you'd better not park in the deck off Lawrence Street.

Gates are being installed to deter people who do not have business with the city from parking there, the Marietta Daily Journal reports.

Parking in the 140-space deck will still be free for those who visit the clerk's office, need to be in court or other otherwise have business with the city.

Visitors will get a numbered ticket when they drive into the deck, and city officials will validate them.

“The city installed the gate system as a result of Cobb County opening its new parking deck and Superior Court across from city hall, which drove people seeking closer, free parking to our parking deck,” Challa Bonja, the city’s transportation engineer, told the MDJ.

“Visitors to City Hall then couldn’t find places to park.”

The county deck is $5 for the whole day. In 2009, when the county was planning its new parking garage, the county asked the city to partner with it, though the city ultimately declined.

At the Marietta deck, the $20 payment will be made by swiping a credit card at the exit, or with cash inside City hall, Wilgus said.

At city hall, Bonja told the MDJ, “the current plan is a flat rate of $20, and can be adjusted as needed. The goal is to deter those who park at the deck for conducting no legitimate business with the city. It is not to generate revenue.”

Wilgus said the gates would be left open for council meetings and other times crowds are expected.

The city has spent $154,000 to put gates on both the lower deck, where city employees park, and the upper deck, where the public parks.

The gates will go into action in late August or early September.

Councilman Van Pearlberg said he was unaware the parking deck gets overcrowded because he is usually only at City Hall in the evenings.

Pearlberg said he had no problem with charging $20 penalty for people who were not supposed to park in the deck, but had concerns about the cost involved with the project.

“That’s a lot of money to keep people off the parking deck, especially in these times when the economy is so troubled,” Pearlberg told the MDJ. “This is the first I’ve heard about the cost involved. It might be cheaper to hire someone.”