Kingsport Police Department Press Release |
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Event Information |
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| Type of Event | Downtown Parking Availability and Fine Restructuring |
| Date | August 21, 2013 |
| Location of Event | Downtown Kingsport |
General Narrative |
| The Kingsport Police Department wishes to educate citizens on both the availability of, and restrictions on, parking in the downtown area.
On August 20, 2013 the City of Kingsport Board of Mayor and Alderman approved on second reading a restructuring of the fines for illegal and/or overtime parking in the downtown area. A new flat rate $25 fine goes into effect immediately. Prior to this change, penalties for illegal parking in downtown Kingsport were on a tiered system consisting of the following fines by offense: •1st Offense………………….Warning •2nd Offense…………………$6 Fine •3rd Offense…………………$8 Fine •4th Offense…………………$13 Fine •5th Offense (or more)…$26 Fine The tiered system had proven ineffective throughout the years at deterring illegal parking in downtown Kingsport. Moreover, enforcement on the previous system was extremely time consuming and labor intensive for parking enforcement officers, because every offender’s parking violation history had to be researched prior to a citation being issued. The new flat rate $25 fine has been implemented to simplify enforcement efforts, but more importantly, to free up parking for customers of downtown businesses. Downtown Kingsport is booming, and while parking is significantly improved over previous decades, it is still limited. Owners and employees of downtown businesses are encouraged to leave the on street parking spaces in front of their businesses for their customers. Limited free on-street parking is available in the core area of downtown Kingsport. These spaces are intended for short term customer parking and are limited to two hours or less. Exceeding the two hour time limit will result in a $25 fine. Each downtown business has the option of requesting up to five on-street parking passes with no time restriction. These parking passes are available at City Hall and are in the form of a rear view mirror hang tag that can be given out to customers who may be visiting a particular business for more than two hours. These passes are for customer use only. Use of these passes by the business owner or employees will result in a fine and a revocation of the passes. Available on-street parking consists of 674 individual spaces with the following breakdown by location: •Clay Street (Main to New)……………48 Spaces •Shelby Street (Main to New)………..44 Spaces •Broad Street (Main to Sullivan)….199 Spaces •Commerce Street (Main to New)…61 Spaces •Cherokee Street (Main to New)……47 Spaces •New Street (Clay to Cherokee)……..98 Spaces •Center Street (Clay to Cherokee)….57 Spaces •Market Street (Clay to Cherokee)…68 Spaces •Main Street (Clay to Cherokee)…….52 Spaces Again, the on-street parking is limited to two hours or less and is intended for short term customer parking only. Alternatively, free all-day parking is readily available at six different downtown off-street parking lots within easy walking distance of downtown businesses and residences. These lots consist of 778 individual spaces with the following breakdown by location: •215 Shelby Street (Parking Garage)………………….364 Spaces •201 East Market Street (at Commerce Street)……90 Spaces •425 Shelby Street (at Library)……………………………..75 Spaces •420 Cherokee Street (at Five Points)…………………..77 Spaces •175 Cherokee Street…………………………………………149 Spaces •330 East Sullivan Street (at Cumberland)……………23 Spaces Three additional off-street parking lots containing 279 free all-day parking spaces are available surrounding the Academic Village; however, citizens are encouraged to allow college students the first opportunity to park in these lots. Their breakdown by location is as follows: •102 Shelby Street (Academic Village)…………….37 Spaces •201 Clinchfield Street (Academic Village)…….101 Spaces •101 Clinchfield Street (Academic Village)…….141 Spaces The ultimate goal regarding downtown parking is compliance. If individuals will exercise good judgment and police themselves, police officers will not have to resort to issuing citations. For additional information, please contact: Ptl. Thomas M. Patton K.P.D. Community Relations & Crime Prevention Unit 423-229-9433 ThomasMPatton@KingsportTN.gov or Lt. Mike Roark 423-229-9497 MikeRoark@KingsportTN.gov |
| Releasing Officer | Ptl. Thomas M. Patton
K.P.D. Community Relations & Crime Prevention Unit |
