KANNAPOLIS — Kannapolis sent out a survey to downtown business owners last November to discover how they feel about several issues that included “business climate, marketing, special events, organization/communication and parking.”

Out of 50 businesses that were given the survey, 35 responded.

At its Jan. 22 meeting, the Kannapolis City Council heard from Director of Economic and Community Development Irene Sacks on the survey’s results and what can potentially be done to improve the downtown landscape. 

The retail, food and beverage and technology businesses that responded were located on West Avenue, Oak Avenue and Main Street. Seventy-one percent of businesses agreed “downtown Kannapolis is a desirable place to open a business.” The same amount said being in the downtown area is important to their business and 57 percent stated their business is growing. 

Business owners wished to see more restaurants, events, as well as advertising and marketing related to downtown. The advertising and marketing ideas ranged from billboards to an email newsletter or “centralized website” for promotion.

Sacks said numerous downtowns have a “fee-based organization” who are in charge of collective marketing for the businesses stationed there. When asked if they would be interested in this concept, a majority of businesses wanted more information before committing funds to this hypothetical group.

Going forward, how involved Kannapolis is with marketing is still up in the air. In the near future, the city could connect with business owners to find out the best course of action. 

“In terms of next steps, it might make sense to meet with them and talk to them more about what types of marketing support would be most helpful to them and how that would look in determining their capacity for financial participation,” Sacks said. 

On Feb. 5, a “workshop specific to downtown businesses” will take place “to encourage them to come and get some insight specific to their business related to the visitation and the demographics of the people who do come to the downtown.”

Parking was a central topic that was discussed at length during the meeting. The goals of the city’s proposed parking plan is to enhance parking space turnover, “increase availability of prime parking spots for downtown customers,” and have more options for customers who park in the downtown area for “longer periods of time.”

The plan encompasses a free period of 30 minutes to an hour for “premium parking spaces, ” a kiosk or app to pay for parking, free overnight parking, and “validation codes” businesses can hand out to customers. A “six-month implementation period” could be enacted where parking fines would be minimized to get residents acclimated to the new system. 

Main Street, Oak Avenue, Laureate Way and city hall parking spaces are currently free, but they may become paid for events like Kannapolis Cannon Ballers baseball games. Shuttle services are progressing along with the construction of over 400 new spaces on South Main Street and behind First Presbyterian Church. 

The parking plan received a mixed reaction from the downtown business owners. Before staff move ahead with a “regulated, pay-to-park plan,” city council must give it their final approval. 

Sacks clarified no resolution for premium downtown spaces will be made before the 2024 Cannon Ballers season. In the meantime, a “public education effort” is going to motivate more parking turnover before official ordinances are ratified. 

At the end of the presentation, council member Ryan Dayvault came out and spoke on his concerns about what paying for parking means to downtown as a whole.

“Overall, I have a level of heartburn with charging for parking in downtown, but I understand the purpose of it,” Dayvault said. “I have a fear of running people out of downtown because of parking.” 

“It sounds like we have lots of hard work to do,” Mayor Darrell Hinnant said.