The Tucker City Council at its Jan. 13 meeting discussed possible remedies to its downtown parking shortages, but fell short of reaching a consensus about the best solution.
Micah Seibel, assistant to the city manager, made a presentation to the council regarding long-running frustrations about the availability of parking along and around Main Street.
“This is causing residents to avoid the area altogether, which is further impacting local businesses,” Seibel said.
In 2017, the Tucker Northlake CID completed a parking evaluation of downtown and identified several opportunities and recommendations, including using available parking at existing institutions.
In 2024, the city executed a parking agreement with nearby Main Street Church to provide 103 new parking spots to the public during specific hours.
However, parking availability around Main Street was further reduced when nearby Railroad Avenue was closed for construction of the city’s new Town Green, Seibel said.
After discussing the issue with downtown merchants, Seibel said the staff is recommending consideration of an ordinance that would impose time-restricted public parking along Main Street.
Several options were discussed – limiting parking spots for two hours, three hours, or four hours for about 123 slots around Main Street. The new parking lot at Main Street Church would not be considered for time-restricted parking.
Seibel also presented several options regarding days and times that the time-restricted parking would be implemented.
“Many comments thus far have highlighted that parking Monday through Friday ought to be restricted, but that weekend restrictions to parking may not be needed,” he said.
The council, while acknowledging the parking woes, questioned how the time-restricted parking would be enforced.
“There’s a question of how it would be enforced and the cost of it,” council member Alexis Weaver said. “I’m leery of drafting and passing an ordinance before the Town Green opens and we know the implications of that.”
Weaver said she believes research is needed to discover who is currently parking along Main Street, whether it is customers, people who work at its businesses, or Tucker High School students.
Councilmember Virginia Rece encouraged staff to reach out to the public to gauge their opinions about the parking issues and possible solutions.
The council directed staff to research further and return with more information before taking official action.
In other news, the council discussed whether or not to opt out of a floating homestead exemption that was passed by the Georgia Assembly last year.
House Bill 581 limits increases in the assessed value of a primary residence by linking it to an established inflationary average. Several local entities, including the Fulton County School System, are considering opting out of the exemption.
“Some have argued that policies granting generous homestead property tax exemptions unfairly shift the tax burden to commercial property and new residents,” Tucker City Manager John McHenry said. “Others maintain they are appropriate measures that contribute to home ownership affordability, neighborhood stability and allow long-term residents on a fixed income to stay in their home.”
If the city elects to opt out of this measure, it would be required to complete three public hearings, advertise in the legal organ a week before each hearing, and adopt a resolution that would be delivered to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office by March 1.
McHenry said the city’s current homestead exemption is “far more generous” than the relief that HB 581 would provide.”
Mayor Frank Auman proposed that the city schedule hearings on the opt-out possibility that would keep the city’s options open and allow for further research and discussion. The motion passed unanimously.
In other action:
- Mayor Frank Auman commended the city’s public works department for its hard work in handling road conditions during last week’s snow event;
- Passed an ordinance that requires a permit for film production within the city;
- Heard from Tucker Finance Director Beverly Hilton that a snapshot of the city’s finances show expenditures and revenue tracking according to projections;
- Implemented a newly passed measure to declare a property at 4971 Lavista Road to be in a state of blight, which authorizes the city to implement the tax rate multiplier against the property’s owners.
