Tomorrow’s Blowing Rock: Daylight’s burning

By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — Paid parking is not the end-all to Blowing Rock’s parking problem, but it is a start.

When Blowing Rock’s Tourism Development Authority board of directors decided to pay consulting firm Roger Brooks International to analyze the local Blowing Rock economy in 2021, they did so predisposed to the idea we were facing “over-tourism.” A highly vocal group of local residents thought that was surely the case.

The then ongoing efforts of the TDA, the Chamber of Commerce and the town to boost the local economy by promoting our small-town allure, our quaintness and our “charm,” encouraging visitors to come to Blowing Rock and spend their money were decried by the critics. “Stop promoting Blowing Rock,” they said. “Over-tourism is adversely impacting our quality of life.”

At least one, maybe more of those critics had insinuated themselves onto the TDA board, which subsequently rolled out a relatively novel catch-phrase of a goal, to develop “Sustainable Tourism” because they feared the powers that be had done too good a job in promoting Blowing Rock as a tourist destination. They advanced and approved the hiring of a consultant, Brooks, to help with a “Tourism Management Plan.”

Roger Brooks’ goal, as he stated in opening a final presentation to Town Council on Dec. 9, 2021, was: “What could be done in Blowing Rock to mitigate effects that being a popular visitor destination has on the quality of life for local residents, particularly during the peak summer and fall months?”

Obviously, with this question as the lead, the TDA board had already planted a seed in Roger Brooks’ mind that there was too much tourism in Blowing Rock. “What could be done… ?” asked the study, because tourism was apparently impacting the local residents’ quality of life.

With inaction, things will only get worse.

Getting to work

True to his reputation as one of the best tourism consultants on the planet over 41 years and working with more than 2,200 communities, Brooks was meticulous in his study: He analyzed traffic patterns, evaluated signage, gleaned occupancy data from lodging establishments, observed the behavior of people, conducted surveys, studied (and counted) all of the businesses in town, including their employees and, yes, he even counted the number of public and private parking spaces and who was using them.

Brooks spent months doing research, implementing his firm’s process for assessing Blowing Rock as a destination, just as he had done previously for many other towns and cities.

He pointed out that even in the peak summer season, in July and August, our lodging establishments for overnight stays are not at 100 percent occupancy, only about 80 percent. Most of the year occupancy varies from 30 percent to 60 percent. He also acknowledged that with some 7 million people living within a 100 mile radius of Blowing Rock, there could also be a lot of day-trippers visiting town

After all his research, Brooks pointedly concluded, “Blowing Rock does not have a tourism problem. You have a parking problem.”

LONG TERM PROBLEM: Not enough spaces

Based on the size of town and the number of businesses, Brooks estimated Blowing Rock should have approximately 1,500 public parking spaces.

“Right now, you don’t,” he said. “There are about 430 in town.”

And he went on to report that after approximately 420 employees of businesses and the town parked early in the day to work in various shops, restaurants or offices, that left fewer than a dozen parking spaces for anyone wanting to do any kind of business in town: shop, dine, buy real estate, visit town hall, meet with someone in a downtown office, or maybe just frolic in Memorial Park.

And because there is such a shortage of open parking spaces after employees scoop them all up early in the day, especially on Main Street, people are driving around, looking for a parking space — and that just creates the kind of congestion adversely impacting residents’ quality of life, Brooks suggested. And the wayfinding signage currently in place was making the problem worse, not helping, he said.

“Blowing Rock does not have a tourism problem. You have a parking problem.”

Brooks said the long-term plan should be to build a large parking structure capable of accommodating 600 spaces and that needs to done as soon as possible. While some think any large structure should be very close to downtown, if not within a block of Main Street, based on his experience in other communities Brooks favors a larger structure on Valley Boulevard and implementing a shuttle service that runs every 15 minutes to and from the site to Main Street.

I’m not sure where the powers that be can find land along Main Street for a large parking structure that is big enough to solve the problem or, for that matter, wouldn’t adversely impact the “small-town atmosphere,” “charm,” or “quaintness” that everyone wants to protect. But whether a downtown solution or a remote structure-and-shuttle solution, the long-term remedy should be studied, prepared for and implemented. It is not another can to kick down the road and, included in Brooks’ consulting report, there are ways to partner with for-profit companies to manage it and perhaps we can even obtain some grant funding to help defray the associated construction costs.

SHORT-TERM HELP: “Pay to Park”

In the short-term, Brooks suggested that paid parking is a first step, especially if a remote parking plan for employees can be simultaneously implemented. Paid parking will discourage people, whether employees or visitors, from finding a space and parking all day. It will incentive-ize people to seek free or lower cost solutions remotely, whether gaining access to downtown by a relatively short walk or a shuttle, if available.

In 2022, a working committee was formed to create a plan for “pay to park” implementation. The committee did yeoman’s work on the issue and coordinated the priorities of several special interest groups. They should be commended for their insightful proposal formally presented to the Town on January 23, 2023.

Few early drafts of any plan are flawless and this one is no different. But instead of identifying problem areas, negotiating with opposing interests, and tweaking the plan for implementation, this plan and the issue it addresses became just another can kicked down the road. It has been over two years since Brooks pointed out the problem areas. What have we accomplished in the meantime?

One of the primary sticking points of the working committee’s plan, we learned, was how much it would or would not cost local residents to park downtown. The Blowing Rock Civic Association even drafted a position paper supporting the idea of paid parking and changes to Chapter 6 of the Town Code, but with the condition that local residents should be permitted to park downtown at no cost. “It’s a worthy idea as long as other people, not us, have to pay,” they effectively said.

Some local residents argue they are already paying property taxes and that should entitle them to park, free of charge, in any public space, whether Main Street, the Maple Street lot, or the parking decks because their property tax dollars funded those facilities.

Precedent — how things work — suggests otherwise.

Watauga County used (and is still using) a lot of property tax dollars paid to the county for construction of the Watauga Community Recreation Center. The county’s Board of Commissioners even raised property taxes to help fund it. And yet, those who are paying the property taxes for the Center’s construction and, arguably, a hefty annual subsidy to operate it do not get to use the facility free of charge. If you want to use the facility, you (or a third party insurer) pay a daily, monthly or annual fee.

Many NFL stadiums are partly financed through direct contributions from their host municipalities, tax incentives to the team owners or some other kind of government subsidies for its operation. And yet, the taxpayers in those host cities don’t get free tickets to stadium events, whether football games, music concerts, or “monster truck” extravaganzas.

It is Government 101 in a market-driven society.

For the construction of Express Lanes on I-77 north of Charlotte, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (funded by fuel taxes) put up $95 million. There was a loan from the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (funded largely by federal income taxes) providing $189 million. Then there were bonds issued by the NC Local Government Commission providing another $100 million. All of that was taxpayer funded in one way or another — but to drive in the Express Lanes you still have to pay user fees. And, as many will attest, they are not necessarily cheap, depending on how much you drive.

For that matter, we build and maintain highways with fuel tax money we are coerced to pay to the NCDOT with every gallon of gasoline or diesel we buy, too, but does that give us the right to drive freely on them? No, each year we must register our vehicles and pay a fee if we are to drive on our streets and highways.

In one sense, it is Government 101 in a market-driven society. By charging user fees, governments can minimize the costs of providing a public service to the broader population, especially when it is impossible to know how many people will use the service. If you didn’t offset some costs by collecting more money from the people using a service, then the broader tax rates must be much higher — if the service is to be provided at all.

Walkabout?

In Blowing Rock, people who live close to downtown may continue to walk to an in-town destination, to be sure, just like they have done for many decades. For those that don’t want to or can’t walk for whatever reason, is it too much to ask them to pay, say, $200 (pick a number) a year for a parking sticker, with unlimited parking privileges? Don’t go downtown that frequently so buying a sticker isn’t worth your while? Well, a few dollars each time… is that so much to ask as a user’s fee, given the precedents we have cited?

Blowing Rock’s parking problem is not going to go away without action, long term and short term. And with Main Street about to be torn up as we deal with another can that was kicked down the road for far too long — replacing aged and aging water and sewer infrastructure — parking is going to get even more problematic for a while.

Let’s use this time of disruption as a time of transition. Let’s plan for the short and long terms and implement those plans.

I am reminded of when I was a young man, working as a roustabout in the Central California oilfields each summer to put myself through college. After a midafternoon water break in the 105-degree sun, our foreman liked to say, “Come on boys, back to work. Daylight’s burnin’.”

Let’s get to work on parking. The problems won’t go away without action, including compromise and working together. In fact, with inaction the problems will only get worse.