FAYETTEVILLE — Come Monday, parking in the three lots surrounding the Walton Arts Center will require payment.
However, motorists will have a few more days of free parking on the streets.
“The pay stations are taking a little bit longer to get everything in place and get the signage up,” Sharon Waters, Fayetteville parking and telecommunications manager, told a crowd of residents, workers and others from the Dickson Street entertainment district Thursday during a meeting to get people familiarized with the new parking plan. The pay stations for the street parking are expected to be installed by Wednesday or Thursday, which is when motorists will be expected to use them.
Next week will be mostly a get aquatinted and orientation time where workers with both the city’s parking department and the Walton Arts Center will be on-hand to answer questions and direct cars to available spaces and lots.
“The focus next week will be more on assistance rather than enforcement,” Waters said. “Next week will be a lot about customer service.”
Even though Thursday’s meeting was the third in a series of educational meetings, questions about individual concerns abounded. Tyrone Leak, a manager at Rogue Pizza, asked where bands and delivery vehicles needing to unload should park — both during the unloading and later.
“We’ll play that by ear and see where it goes,” said Terry Gulley, city transportation manager. In general, vehicles can spend up to 15 minutes in a loading zone, say parking officials. And if the vehicle is parked in a pay-spot, those vehicles will expected to pay for that spot.
“We will use discretion,” Waters told Leak. “If you’ve got an 18-wheeler there unloading product, we’re not going to give you a ticket.”
Other residents such as Jerry Bailey wanted to know if the city will consider better lighting in the bicycle parking area.
“I often find the bicycle parking places aren’t very well lit,” Bailey said. “Will they be better lit so that people won’t be enticed to take stuff off bikes?”
“We’ll look into that,” Gulley said.