CORRECTION

A story in Wednesday's City & State section about a Carrboro parking study gave an incorrect location for an area where new projects would increase the need for parking. The location is around East Main and East Weaver streets.

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CARRBORO -- UNC-Chapel Hill graduate students want to help the town to find its way out of its downtown parking woes.

Nine students pursuing their master's degrees in regional planning presented their most recent report Tuesday night, calling it an "initial, exploratory study."

Four of the nine spoke about current supply and demand, land use, and future supply and demand in the survey given to local business owners and recommendations.

The students hand-counted all the spaces in private and public parking lots around downtown, except Carr Mill Mall's lot -- they weren't allowed to hand-count the spaces "at the request of the owner," student Michael Schwartz said. They found a total of 2,619 spaces in the Central Business District, which is the downtown area.

In municipal lots, there is a two-hour time limit, but it's not enforced, they reported.

They found 20 percent of the cars were parking beyond the limit. Some even parked for days. Those exceeding the two-hour limit were mainly university students who park and then walk or bike to school for the day, the study reported. Others were employees of some businesses who didn't have reserved spaces.

The study also analyzed the scenario if five major developments were to come downtown. They include such multiple-use projects as the already-approved Alberta and Roberson Square, as well as 300 E. Main St., which is being approved in pieces. They estimate that, if all the projects are approved, parking in the areas around West Main and West Weaver streets would be at 75 percent to 85 percent capacity, at which point the town would need to figure out how to deal with the supply and demand.

In the survey sent to business owners, 25 of 29 responding said parking is insufficient, and 25 said they favor structured parking. Most of the 29 do not favor enforcement of time limits or parking meters.

The students offered four main suggestions as potential solutions: education and signage that directs people to available parking, stricter enforcement, increased pedestrian amenities such as lighting or police presence, and a parking deck. "We've found that each one of these is much less powerful than if used [in combination]," Schwartz said.

James Harris, community and economic development director for the town, said they need more responses from the business owners because the sample presented Tuesday was "not truly representative."

The Board of Aldermen referred the report to town staff, who will come back with recommendations.