RICHMOND—A lack of parking in downtown Richmond is leading to business closures, John Leeds, owner of Leeds Jewelry on East Main Street, told the City Commission at a recent Commission workshop.

“What is the endgame for parking?” Leeds asked during the public comment section of the meeting. “You say we’re growing, but all I see is more business owners parking on Main Street,” Leeds said.

He claimed business owners take up parking spaces and handicap spots that are meant for customers.

“I feel like Millstone Social closed because of the lack of parking, I can make a good argument for that," Leeds said.

City Manager Rob Minerich said there was "plenty of parking" and that even though the City holds numerous events for thousands of people downtown, "No one has complained," he said. 

“People don’t want to walk half a block to a business,” Minerich said. “There’s parking behind City Hall, there’s public parking.” 

“Is your mom gonna walk from City Hall down to my place?” Leeds responded.

Since 2022, some parking lots and parking time limit signs have been removed on Main Street, Leeds said. He offered to provide data on how taking away parking time limits has impacted his business revenue.  

“Are you suggesting we go back to fining those who are parked overtime?” Mayor Robert Blythe asked. “You like meters? I shouldn’t even say that but I couldn’t control my filters.” 

The City could place meters or implement two hour limits on Main Street parking spots and have a parking enforcement officer write tickets for violations, Minerich said.

“But the last time I went down that road, everybody downtown showed up with pitchforks and torches and were gonna catch us on fire,” Minerich said. 

Leeds suggested business owner education as a potential solution. Ed Worley, who was Richmond’s previous City Manager from 1990 to 1999, used to visit business owners and tell them what the City expected in terms of cleanliness and parking, according to Leeds. 

Blythe said they could ask Kerri Hensley, who oversees small businesses in Richmond, about doing something similar and asked to place the issue of downtown parking on the next workshop agenda. 

Other business

Richmond Fastpitch Club President Craig Gilliland requested lighting for three softball fields at Irvine McDowell Park. The total estimated cost for lighting would be $550,000, he told the Commission. 

Currently, only one out of the Park's three fields has lights installed. However, those lights are not working and need to be fixed, according to Minerich. The City plans to build four new softball fields at Lake Reba but the project won't start for another three to four years, he said.

Gilliland said that installing lighting would allow more girls to get the chance to play in the meantime. The softball league had to turn away eight kids because the club only has space for the first 175 players, he said. 

Without lighting, games and practices can only be scheduled during the day so they have to accept fewer players, Gilliland explained. Recently, one of the evening games was cut short because there was not enough light and it was too dangerous to keep playing, he said.

Installing lighting would allow the club to add two new teams and increase the number of players from 175 to 195. The number of gameslots would also be increased from 12 to 18, athletes would have more play time, and practices could begin earlier in the year and end later in the fall, he said.

Blythe asked if the City could seek sponsors for lighting. City Attorney Chris Johnson said that the City would legally be allowed to do so. 

Commissioner Mike Brewer asked if it would be possible to build the four new softball fields at Lake Reba now instead of waiting for three to four years. Minerich said that it would not be possible because public safety projects are currently the priority. 

Brewer also asked how long the project would take if they added a fourth softball field to the park. Minerich said that he did not have a specific timeline but he did not expect it to take a long time to complete. Gilliland’s wife is an architect and has already submitted renderings for the fourth field for free, he said. 

If a fourth field is added and lighting is also installed there, the club would be able to have 24 game slots and six additional teams for a total of 267 players, Gilliland said. 

“We are thrilled with what we have," Gilliland said, commending the City for how well they prep the fields. "They give us everything that they’ve got to make that happen. Our girls are not getting the short end of the stick from that standpoint,” Gilliland said. “[But] the boys in Richmond have a lot of opportunities and they’ve got really nice facilities and they should. We would like to have that too.”

Funding to install lights and a fourth field will need to be budgeted during next fiscal year or during a budget amendment in February or March, Minerich said. The City could try to fix the existing lighting that is installed at one of the softball fields first, he said. 

Commission comments

Commissioner Tammy Cole, Commissioner Jim Newby, and Brewer had no comments. Commissioner Mendi Goble was absent. 

Blythe said that he was still hearing good things about the Millstone Festival and said that the City was seeing the results of having growth.