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The four restaurants in The Eatery, a
small L-shaped strip mall on South Main
Street and Carter Street, draw so many
customers that some leave, frustrated,
because they cannot find a parking space
in the lots behind the building which
have 84 spaces.
Tuesday night David Harris
and his partner at the Remington Gill,
Rodney Byrd, asked the town
commissioners if they would allow
employee parking on the strip mall side
of Carter Street.
“When we first opened,
parking was allowed out on the road,”
Harris said. “We’re asking that on one
side of the road our employees can park
there so our businesses can continue to
build.”
There are at least 20 to 30
employees in the restaurants, Harris
said, but the roadside parking would
hold only eight to ten.
There was a flurry of
complaints from homeowners in that quiet
neighborhood about litter, swearing,
loud late-night noise and damage to
lawns from cars parking there. Now metal
posts and yellow tape keep cars from
parking on the Bryant Cash property and
police officers patrol to assure there
is no illegal parking.
The commissioners were
reluctant to allow the street parking
until all other alternatives had been
exhausted, including night parking for
employees at the health club next door.
Harris and Bryd said there were safety
issues that would rule that out.
“How do we put four
restaurants in a little L-shaped
building?” Byrd asked.
“The onus is on the owner,”
Planning Director Chip Russell said. “It
is on him to provide that space for his
tenants. That’s where the discussion
should be first.”
When the strip mall was
built, owner Mahmoud Abdallah, called
Mack, said it was for retail uses and
the amount of parking reflected that.
Abdallah came in late and
argued he should be able to have some
parking on the street since he spent
$80,000 to pave it and curb and gutter
one side.
Then he asked if he could
rezone the lots he owns behind The
Eatery and was told he could go through
the process.
Wednesday morning Harris
said, “It looks like the landlord is
going to try to get that lot rezoned for
parking.” Of course, he said, the
landlord does not make money in
providing more parking.
“We like being in Wake
Forest,” Harris said, but the parking
situation is hurting their business. He
could not find a parking space the other
day at lunchtime. |
