Mooresville advances parking-deck plan and pushes downtown parking-management changes

Mooresville leaders reviewed a conceptual design for a downtown parking deck and discussed short-term parking-management changes intended to free curbside spaces for customers and visitors.

The town’s design-build team and consultants told the Board of Commissioners that the deck concept includes 481 parking spaces and that, combined with the existing off-street layout, the block would have 512 spaces — a net increase of 277 spaces over current counted inventory. Ashton, a town staff member who presented the layout, said the 481–plus–31 configuration would produce that total.

The planning and management discussion focused less on the deck’s structure than on how the town will manage on-street curbspace and enforce time limits. Jim Corbett of Walker Consultants said the town should adopt clear ordinance language on where and when time limits apply and on civil penalties, and that the town “obviously recommend[s] mobilization versus towing” as an enforcement approach.

Why it matters: downtown businesses say long-term parkers and employees occupy curbside spaces needed for short visits; the town’s plan aims to move long-term parkers to the deck and other off-street lots while protecting quick-turnover curb spaces for customers.

Details and recommended next steps - Inventory and design: The conceptual design from the preconstruction contract shows 481 deck spaces and about 31 surface spaces retained in the current configuration, producing a 512-space block total (net +277). - Enforcement tools: Consultants described license-plate recognition systems for enforcement patrol vehicles and mobile-payment platforms that can flag paid versus unpaid vehicles to enforcement officers. Corbett said enforcement vehicles equipped with cameras can record license plates on rounds and re-check them after a time limit to detect noncompliance. - Outsourcing and ordinance changes: Consultants recommended the town update its traffic/parking ordinances to specify block-by-block time limits, hours of operation and a schedule of civil penalties, and to consider outsourcing enforcement and day-to-day deck management. Corbett identified statutory language the town may rely on to delegate citation authority and suggested a 5–6 month procurement window (RFP, shortlist, award) for selecting an operator, though he said timing could vary. - Customer protections: The consultants recommended customer-friendly features during rollout, including a short grace period and initial warning citations. Corbett said systems can be configured to give a short automatic grace period (for example, an extra 10–15 minutes beyond a paid period). - Outreach and equity: Commissioners asked that staff present the plan to downtown businesses, the Downtown Commission and senior groups to shape hours, short-term curb zones, kiosk/mobile-payment access and employee-parking locations. Commissioners emphasized avoiding burdens on older residents who do not use smartphone apps and on small merchants whose customers make low-value purchases.

What remains unresolved - Ordinance language: Staff will work with legal to draft ordinance amendments that spell out hours, zones and penalties before any enforcement contract or paid-parking program is implemented. - Operator scope and timeline: The Board directed staff to draft a scope for potential third-party operators and to convene a parking-management working group. The deck’s final design, permitting and technology selections will continue through design and procurement phases.

Quotes - “The total number of spaces, which is 481 for the parking deck and then, about 31 with the current configuration… a total of 512 spaces on the block, which is a net increase of 277,” Ashton said. - “We obviously recommend mobilization versus towing,” Jim Corbett, Walker Consultants, said of enforcement strategy. - “You can add a grace period on that,” Corbett said of mobile-payment enforcement settings.

Ending Staff said a technical memo and draft scope for procurement will be circulated to the Board and that staff will schedule outreach to downtown businesses and senior groups. The Board directed staff to continue design work on the deck and to return with ordinance and procurement drafts for the enforcement/operator piece.