Parking ticket reflects Old Town Bluffton parking woes

Suzanne Hobbs was walking back to her car parked after a recent afternoon spent strolling through the Farmers Market of Bluffton when she noticed something on her windshield.

As she she got closer to her vehicle, she realized what it was: that dreaded yellow square of paper — a parking ticket.

Hobbs was confused.

She was parked on Lawrence Street and didn’t see any no-parking signs or fire hydrants nearby.

When she examined the ticket, it indicated that she was parked on the sidewalk.

“It sure didn’t look like a sidewalk to me,” she said earlier this week. “The ground was all covered in leaves and dirt and there was no curb.”

She said that if the sidewalk “was easily discernible, (she) certainly wouldn't have parked there.”

Hobbs’ case, hardly unique, illustrates the ongoing problem in Bluffton’s Old Town.

As the historic cultural district grows — both in popularity with visitors and in the number of businesses and homes sprouting up — finding a parking space is becoming more difficult.

Old Town resident and business owner Margie Fox addressed the issue with town leaders at a recent Bluffton Town Council meeting, calling growth a “double-edged sword.”

“Bluffton is thriving, … and we are seeing a lot of people come into the town. But that poses some issues (such as) parking,” she said.

“People want to come, but they are finding it difficult” to find on-street parking, Fox said.

She said business owners are concerned about losing older patrons “because they can’t get to where they want to go, and they have to circle (to find a parking space).”

Lack of a public parking garage, combined with unclear signage and old sidewalks that are often hard to discern from the roadway frequently result in parking tickets for drivers like Hobbs.

“We understand the public’s frustration,” Bluffton Police Department spokeswoman Joy Nelson said.

“The signage isn’t great; the striping in certain areas isn’t great,” she said. “We will freely admit there are a lot of confusing areas.”

But, Nelson added, officers have a job to do.

“If you are parked illegally, we have to ticket you.”

While the construction of a garage does not appear to be happening anytime soon, the town and local groups are working to ease the parking strain in Old Town.

Parking time limits have been placed along Calhoun Street, and the town is working toward adding roughly 75 new spaces on Dr. Mellichamp Drive.

Farmers market organizers have added a trolley service that shuttles shoppers to Old Town from Bluffton Village, where parking is easier to come by.

Since the trolley service began in March, “the farmers market has run more smoothly,” Nelson said. “We have had less complaints.”

But those sorts of initiatives don’t do much good for drivers like Hobbs, who have already been stung by a $30 parking fine.

Hobbs said she plans to contest the ticket.

“I've never fought a parking ticket before,” she said. “But maybe if I do, I can help make things change a little bit.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 3:47 PM with the headline "Parking ticket reflects Old Town Bluffton parking woes."