BY GRACIE WARHURST
Digging deeper
In similar news
During major downtown events, the city typically blocks off driving access to some streets. Once the garage opens, the city hopes to utilize its parking availability for these events, Bettiol said. Georgetown will host its annual Christmas Stroll in early December, two weeks after the garage opens. The garage will not be acces- sible to the public during the parade but will open once that event ends, McAuliffe said. The Christmas Stroll will also act as a trial run for how the city might direct traffic during the Red Poppy Festival in April. “If this works out well, we’ll plan to do the same for Red Poppy Festival,” McAuliffe said.
The parking study and the new garage play into the city’s downtown master plan, McAuliffe said. Georgetown adopted its most recent plan last year, which recommends removing 71 of the 120 on-street parking spots from the square. This will allow room for wider, more pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, McAuliffe said. Expanding the sidewalks in front of businesses downtown will also allow for additional retail and dining uses, Bettiol said. “I think we’ve seen more and more of our retail partners downtown really embracing uti- lizing that space in front of their retail and their restaurant-type establishments to be able to reach out and just engage with the community that’s walking by,” Bettiol said. The new downtown garage will help supplement the need for parking while the city works to eventu- ally renovate the square, McAuliffe said. People who work downtown, like Karen Kofnovec at Red Bird Mercantile, are excited for the access
Spaces on the square
Georgetown’s downtown master plan recommends removing more than half of the parking spaces on the square.
Parking spaces on the square today: 120 Parking spaces with future plan: 49
Dates to know
both the garage and changes to the square will allow. “Absolutely it will [improve parking] because people drive around and around four times before they find a parking place, and they get tired of that,” Kofnovec said.
Red Poppy Festival: April 24-26 Candyland Christmas Stroll: Dec. 5-7
What’s next
East Ninth and South Main streets, a city news release states. “We look forward to also continuing discussions with the Risk Pool on a partnership to build the next parking garage in downtown Georgetown,” Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder said in a statement.
“We are actively working on the details for parking garage No. 2,” McAuliffe said. A recent partnership with the Texas Municipal League’s Intergovernmental Risk Pool, which will establish its headquarters in downtown Georgetown, could potentially lead to funding for a parking garage at the public lot near
The 2024 downtown master plan recommends additional downtown garages, though the city has no concrete plans for construction at this time. Potential sites include any of the city- owned parking lots, McAuliffe said. She said the city is evaluating design options and funding sources.
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