Georgetown’s small-town feel is why Anna Griswold and countless others moved to the area.
However, because of a booming population and growing business community, the Georgetown historic square suffers from a lack of parking.
“You just have to prepare if you work downtown and you know what’s going to be happening you just have to prepare,” says Terri Cowdrey.
Cowdrey has worked at a business on the square for four years.
She says the parking situation has gotten worse.
“The streets aren’t wide, the houses are built on the square, there’s a university, churches we just got a lot going on in a small area,” says Cowdrey.
Now, the city council says more parking is one of their top priorities this year.
However, the issue has had a controversial past.
As far back as 2015, the city conducted a downtown parking study.
Then in 2019, the city set aside $484,000 to design a new parking garage at 6th and Main Streets (the final cost to construct the garage was estimated at $5 million)—but residents complained a garage would obstruct the city’s historic landmarks.
The project was then put on hold in February of 2020.
Now a parking garage is back on the table.
“We gave direction to staff to find all locations that could hold a garage and review and bring them back to council for us to have some discussions,” says Georgetown Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Pitts.
Pitts says before council votes on a location for the garage there will be an opportunity for public input.