Colquitt Avenue Wants Residents Only Parking

Residents of Colquitt Avenue NE , a narrow, street that runs from Euclid to North Highland avenues in Inman Park, want residents only parking at certain hours.

Increasingly over the years, it's become harder for residents to park as patrons of Little Five Points establishments seek free, surface parking, rather than pay to park in a $2 lot or use the metered parking on Euclid Avenue.

The argument Colquitt Avenue residents make is that not every home has enough off-street parking.

The plan would call for residents only parking from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. daily, as a compromise between residents and the nearby businesses, Karen Goeckel a Colquitt Avenue homeowner, told East Atlanta Patch.

Goeckel made a brief presentation to the Inman Park Neighborhood Association Wednesday, saying the Colquitt Avenue residents will make a formal request for support at the group's November meeting.

Residents support the Little Five Points businesses and want to see them succeed, she told Patch after the meeting.

But as one of only a handful of streets that have no parking restrictions, Colquitt Avenue gets inundated with patrons looking to avoid having to pay to park and the other streets that have residents only regulations, she said.

The problem is even an issue for the few homeowners who have driveways like her, she explained.

A woman parked in her driveway and proceeded to head to the shops on Euclid Avenue — in full view of Goeckel's husband, who was working in their yard.

Goeckel said her husband told her she couldn't park there, and she eventually moved but not before protesting she was only going to be there a few minutes.

"There is parking in Little Five Points but it is not being used because it's not free," she said.

Residents of the street had pushed for a similar measure in 2002, seeking to join neighboring streets such as Sinclair and Seminole avenues, but held off enforcement, she said, because of promises of parking deck for Little Five Points business patrons.

Ten years on, there's no parking deck and residents of Colquitt Avenue, some of them elderly and who have lived on the street 25 years or more, have to park blocks away from their street and then walk to their homes.

The 12-hour residents only rule they want established is win-win for all, she said, giving parking for patrons during the day and residents at night.

"We want to compromise because we want Little Five Points to be successful," Goeckel said. "It's a residential street but at the end of the day, we're willing to share."