Council to consider adding Church Street parking lot to short-term facility use policy to accommodate nonprofits

Deputy City Manager Lance Spicer presented Ordinance 2505, an amendment to Hot Springs Code 13-4-2 to add the Church Street parking lot to the city's short-term facility use policy. Spicer said the Church Street lot, a Visit Hot Springs asset deeded to the city, is part of the paid parking program (a secondary zone) and has been used by the Hot Springs Giving Team for a monthly resource fair on the fourth Saturday of most months.

Spicer said adding the Church Street lot to the facility-use policy would allow nonprofit groups to apply to temporarily use the lot for community events, similar to how the city currently permits use of the Exchange Street parking plaza, the transportation depot and the farmers market plaza. The giving team asked to continue using Church Street, and staff identified alternative locations including an overflow lot at the end of Convention Boulevard (Autumn and Vine) and the City Resource Center at 109 Hopson.

Board members asked procedural questions: the facility-use packet will include Hot Springs Code 13-4-2 and the application/approval process. Spicer said the city intends to apply existing facility-use fees (currently $100 per day, $50 for nonprofits) and that the Church Street lot is the only paid parking lot outside the entertainment district currently proposed for such use. He said staff is working with other feeding programs and churches to relocate some activities to the resource center or alternate lots so the Church Street and adjacent statue-garden areas do not become congested.

Ordinance 2505 was scheduled for formal consideration at the Jan. 21 meeting; no final vote was recorded on Jan. 14.