Downtown JC business owners tiptoe in on parking plans

Business owners in Downtown Johnson City are looking forward to parking improvements now that the city has released plans and results from its downtown parking study. The most immediate improvements include narrowing West State of Franklin Road to add 40 to 50 parking space on-street parking spaces, according to a draft report of the study. Future recommendations included narrowing several other streets to add mor parallel parking and improving way-finding and signage. Results from a survey of 43 downtown business owners was also included in the draft report. Of those surveyed, 25% currently provide both employee and customer parking and 61% expressed interest in providing parking validation for their customers if paid on-street parking was implemented. Additionally, general survey responses included strong support for building a parking garage and suggestions for repurposing underutilized lots, shuttle services during events and restructuring key downtown streets. May McNeil, owner of women's clothing boutique West of May, is a supporter of creative solutions like the ones mentioned in the report. She said she thankfully doesn't encounter parking challenges because of where her business is located on Market Street but also thinks a lot of challenges could be avoided. "I think that if the attitude of parking and walking could be adopted by more folks who are spending time downtown, we could be avoiding a lot of the challenges that we see with lack of parking in those concentrated areas," McNeil said According to Johnson City Manager Cathy Ball, there are plans for the city to partner with private entities like churches and local businesses to transform private parking lots into paid public parking. McNeil said she likes this idea. "At this point, I appreciate any efforts to solve the problem for downtown businesses," McNeil said. "If you go to Asheville, you're not going to be able to pull up in front of the downtown business you're trying to go to, you're going to have to park a couple blocks away and walk. And I think that's actually the beauty of a walkable downtown," McNeil said. Cam McAllister, owner of Sentimental Journey Antiques & Merchant Mall on East Main Street, said he's happy the city is working to improve parking but is worried any construction may impact business. "I am very happy that something is finally being done but you know at the stake of … closing the streets to work on it — I just really hope that our customers overlook that and they still come visit us and still shop local," McAllister said. "I feel like business owners are telling their associates to park in one place and I'm telling my people to park in another place," McAllister said. "We're all just trying to find a spot at this point." While he's looking forward to the parking improvements, McAllister said he wished there was better communication from the city about upcoming changes. "The communication just wasn't there," McAllister said. "I really just think it's important from here on out that the communication with the business owners is very important." "Downtown is supposed to be a parking and walking experience," McAllister said. "I think it's very important to get that foot traffic back down here because, downtown is not like it used to be … there's so much more downtown now." However the city makes it happen, McAllister said that the more parking there is, the better. The parking study results have not officially been released or announced by the city. The report released by the city in an email was a draft report from the study dated November 2025. When asked when or if the city would be releasing the parking study results city spokeswoman Sarah Nobles did not specify when, but provided the following response: "As noted in the March 1 Johnson City Press article, and as indicated by the document itself, it is a draft. Because of the quantity and complexity of data presented in the document, and since it is in draft form, City staff are working to create a more concise document for release." View the full draft report of the parking study results at the link below or at johnsoncitypress.com. JC_Parking and Circulation Study - Report Final Draft - Packaged-....pdf