Free parking in downtown Fayetteville may be going away

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- Drivers who park in downtown Fayetteville could soon find themselves paying to park.

A study commissioned by Walker Consultants suggested that paid parking could be on the horizon for downtown Fayetteville.

It recommends a few things: more self-sustaining parking, increase hours of day-to-day enforcement, with the addition of Saturday parking hours. Paid parking is the final recommendation.

Fayetteville City Traffic Engineer Lee Jernigan told ABC11 that the study first was commissioned last May to get a better idea of what parking would be like once the baseball stadium opened. Since then, the study evolved into improving day-to-day parking operations on both a normal day and a game day.

"Where is the money going?" asked Lindsey Wofford, a mother who parks every day along Hay Street when picking up her children from school.

Jernigan explained that the parking money would go into a parking-related fund. Parking could be $1 an hour to park on the street and prices in the parking deck could vary.

The consultant will go before the city council next Monday, Feb. 4.