On the Tuesday, May 10 meeting of the Madison City Commission, City Manager Tim Bennett presented the commissioners with two options for local industrial truck drivers to park their big rigs overnight.
The first option is located near the south end of Lanier Field. The property is owned by the city and is currently zoned residential. The problem with this parking area is the property is close to the area where students of James Madison Preparatory School (JMPHS) park during school hours and trucks could block the flow of the events that take place at the Lanier Field. The area would, however, need no site preparation and would allow enough space for two tractor-trailer trucks to park. The first option would need to be worked with.
The second option is located behind Gray Logging, LLC’s property in the Industrial Park. The land that would be used to allow the overnight and weekend parking of the trucks is owned by the city. However, the parcel of land does include a section that Gray Logging had expressed interest of purchasing from the city. The area of land is already zoned as residential but it would require some site prep, such as roadway in and out of the land parcel. Bennett expressed his belief that Madison County’s partnership with the city in repaving Harvey Greene Dr. could be used to provide the access ways for ingress and egress.
Mayor Catron asked why the city could not look into both parking options, with the Industrial Park parking being the long-term goal.
According to Bennett, it could be another six months until the second option would be a viable place for local drivers to park their trucks, as various work will be required before they could provide it as a place to park. Bennett encouraged the commissioners to go ahead and allow the parking of big rig trucks at Lanier Field and hold on the second option.
Commissioner Ina Thompson had a few concerns about allowing trucks to park at Lanier field. “The tractor-trailer trucks will be parked there mainly during the weekends and majority of the functions at Lanier Field [also] take place during the weekends,” said Thompson. “If there are functions, will the truck drivers have to park somewhere else to allow parking for [event goers at] Lanier Field?”
In response, Bennett mentioned that the City of Madison knows ahead of time when events will take place, as events must be registered with the city. “We could put a process in place where we call the truck drivers and say, ‘hey, there’s going to be a lot of traffic here, please park somewhere else,’ and where that would be, would be their problem,” said Bennett.
Thompson inquired about whether trucks could be allowed, during the events, to park down in the area of the Madison County Extension Office and the Agriculture Center’s paved loop.
Bennett believed that there could be a possibility to allow that.
Commissioner Marcus Hawkins spoke about the difficulties that JMPHS students might face, as the school will be adding a grade next year and he was concerned that it could affect their parking.
“Usually those trucks are parked after [and before] school hours,” said Commissioner Rayne Cooks, and Commissioner Judy Townsend expressed that the city doesn’t hold very many festivals and events at Lanier Field. During the course of a year, only three to six festivals are held at that location.
“I think it is a work in progress,” said Bennett. “We are just going to have to search [this] out.”
Mayor Catron mentioned that, in that location, tractor-trailer parks already frequently park there in order to have lunch at O’Neals Country Buffet.
Again, Bennett encouraged the commissioners to approve the option that was first presented in the intent to take each step slowly and see how it worked out as they moved in that direction.
Taking his advice, a motion was made by Commissioner Townsend to approve option one. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Cooks.
The commissioners voted unanimously to carry the vote.
Local big rig drivers will be permitted to park their industrial vehicles, overnight and during weekends, at the property of Lanier Field. The motion also included directing city staff to inform JMPHS students to park closer to the wooded area of the property in order to provide room for the big rigs.
The community is invited to attend the monthly city commission meetings and express their concerns or opinions regarding decisions that have been made and other matters.
The city commission meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall building located at 321 SW Rutledge St.
The next regularly planned City Commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 14.