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Effingham business owners and city staff debate parking options as downtown grows
Summary
At a downtown focus session for the comprehensive plan, residents and business owners described frequent parking overstays and event overflow and weighed costly parking garages against lower‑cost options such as better signage, reserved spots, shuttles and technology. City staff said a garage would require demonstrated need and likely county cooperation.
Effingham city planner Greg Custer convened a downtown focus group to guide the city’s comprehensive plan and spent much of the meeting on parking, where business owners and residents described recurring problems and proposed mixed solutions.
"We had some great cooperation… one complaint that contractors had was all the traffic downtown," Custer said, framing a conversation that ranged from short‑term overstays in 15‑ and 30‑minute spaces to courthouse employees occupying prime spots all day. Local business owners said those overstays and event crowds strain parking and occasionally push customers away.
Business owners proposed a variety of remedies: clearer signage and public education about existing city‑owned lots, reserving a small number of spaces for downtown businesses, numbering employee spaces at the courthouse to reduce front‑door overstays, and agreements with nearby private lots for evening use. Jesse Graves of Graves Properties and other participants urged exploring church or private parking for off‑hour events and running shuttle service to reduce pressure on block‑front spaces.
Jeremy Harmon, the city’s director of public works, cautioned against immediately pursuing a parking garage. He said garages are expensive to build and maintain, "they don't make money," and would likely require county cooperation if intended primarily for courthouse employees. Harmon said that any garage should be considered only after data demonstrate sustained need across day and evening use.
Participants also discussed lower‑cost and operational options: re‑advertising and updating maps of public lots (the city already owns parking adjacent to the railroad but leases portions for employee use), using shuttles during larger events (the mall has been used as a shuttle origin in the past), and technology such as parking‑availability apps or sensors that could help drivers find open spaces before investing in large capital projects.
Custer emphasized that the comprehensive plan process is meant to weigh long‑range tradeoffs: "Do we want to expand the downtown or change parking requirements as the Central Business District grows?" he asked. The group noted that B3 zoning currently does not require off‑street parking, and that relaxing or tightening requirements would influence future development patterns and parking demand.
Next steps flagged by staff include better data collection on occupancy and turnover in city lots, exploring cooperative agreements with the county and private owners for targeted event parking, and continued outreach to downtown businesses about short‑term solutions such as reserved or numbered employee stalls, improved signage and event shuttles. No formal action was taken at the meeting.
