Would a street takeover solve Georgetown South’s parking woes?

Parking spaces inside the Georgetown South neighborhood in Manassas are at a premium.

The city has distributed nearly 2,800 parking permits to neighborhood residents that have requested them. The problem: There are just 1,750 parking spaces in the neighborhood, located near the city’s downtown.

The nearly five miles of streets in Georgetown South are maintained by the city, which means when the roads need to be paved or need plowing, city crews do the work. It’s the only neighborhood with publicly maintained streets, which gives it less control over who and how many vehicles can park in the community.

Because they’re city streets, Georgetown South can’t do what other townhome communities have done, designate regular parking spaces, and create visitor-only spaces.

“Georgetown South is its own animal,” said Manassas City Councilwoman Theresa Coates Ellis.

She’s been at the forefront of the parking problem, working with city leaders to find a solution. Last month, the city held a town hall meeting at Harris Pavilion downtown to formulate answers to the problem.

There, a neighborhood some residents floated the idea of Georgetown South taking over its streets. To do this, the homeowners association could pay to improve the streets, bringing them up to city standards, good enough to where they won’t need to repaved for 20 years.

The once-in-a-generation cost, says Coates Ellis, is about a half-million dollars.

“The community has come together to understand that maybe it is the best option for them and that they’re going to need to budget for it,” said the councilwoman.

The neighborhood, where about 40% are low-income households, has 860 townhouses constructed in the early 1960s when most homes had just one car per family. Homeowners currently pay $75 a month in HOA dues, bringing in $774,000 a year.

Those funds are used to pay for the upkeep of the grounds and community center. Adding the neighborhood’s streets to the HOA’s budget isn’t in the cards, said David McKennett, HOA president.

“No, we would definitely be against that,” McKennett told PLN, noting Georgetown South, constructed in the early 1960s, was designed to be a part of the city, not a secluded townhome community.

“The entire neighborhood is townhouses. The roads go back and forth, and throughout, they’re city streets, and so, for us, [paying to maintain them] would require a significant cost,” added McKennett.

McKennett couldn’t say just how much it would cost. He didn’t dispute the half-million figure provided to PLN by Coates Ellis.

Georgetown South has made it clear it does not plan to add new parking spaces, as that would eat up any remaining green space in the community. Instead of a street takeover, the neighborhood’s HOA urges the city to make Georgetown South a separate parking zone with a distinct set of restrictions.

It wants:

• Police to tow cars with three more parking tickets.
• Police to enforce parking rules and tow without residents first calling to report a parking violation.
• Nightly towing enforcement should begin two hours earlier at 10 p.m.
• Increase the fine for not displaying a parking permit from $50 to $75.
• Ban work vans and other company vehicles from parking in the neighborhood if the owner doesn’t live in the neighborhood.
• Residents should be forced to show a current tenant contract when purchasing a parking permit from the city.
• Limit the number of permits to three per home.
• Charge a “significantly higher” fee for the second and third parking permits.

As it stands, the city treasurer issues parking permits for Georgetown South for $10 each. If a vehicle is towed, the owner is charged $50.

A week ago, city leaders held a special meeting to continue the discussion on how to solve the parking issue. If the solution is to ask the city treasurer to manage the parking problem more closely, the costs to all city residents could increase, said Coates Ellis.

She adds that the city would also be hard-pressed to limit or ban commercial vehicles from parking on city streets.

Following the city’s most recent work session, officials in the city’s public works department were told to collaborate with the city treasurer to develop a solution and then present it to the City Council in the coming weeks.