Downtown Bryan business owners may have to wait another six months for parking solutions

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – To find solutions to the shortage of parking spaces during weekdays for businesses and residents in Downtown Bryan, the city of Bryan is asking a newly formed committee to research the issue and share its findings.

The city on Tuesday announced who will serve on the committee:

Andrew Nelson (Chair), Destination Bryan board member supporting Bryan hotels, hospitality, and retail, and former City of Bryan MayorWade Beckman, former BCS Chamber of Commerce President and downtown restaurant/retail business ownerNancy Finney, Chief Revenue Officer at Astin Partners, LLC, managing downtown event, retail and business officesPeter Lange, Associate Vice President for Transportation for Texas A&M and office tenant in downtownBryce Pflughaupt, downtown residentDavid Posadas, business owner for multiple downtown restaurant/retail/event venuesAlex Schulman, business owner for multiple downtown restaurant/retail/events venuesKristi Stark, attorney representing legal offices at multiple downtown locationsBlake Zeitman, downtown restaurant/retail business owner

Residents and business owners have shared their frustrations with city leaders since early 2023 but have recently felt their concerns were falling on deaf ears, according to our previous reporting. They point to the failure of the city to enforce existing time-limited parking spots downtown, along with new tenants being added to office space in a newly renovated high-rise building as contributing factors to the increasing difficulty in finding available parking downtown, which in turn, is negatively impacting the business of nearly 60 establishments and restaurants in the area.

Efforts by some downtown residents and business owners to publicly address the issue at previous city council meetings were denied due to new city rules that restrict citizens from speaking about matters that are not on the agenda.

The City of Bryan said it would decline interviews with the news media until the committee is ready to present its findings. To date, the mayor has only shared recorded and written statements to the media about the issue, including a brief statement released with Tuesday’s announcement:

“I am confident in the Downtown Parking Committee’s ability to gather pertinent information, generate fresh insights, and provide short, medium, and long-term recommendations for the benefit of our entire community,” said Mayor Bobby Gutierrez. “I and the rest of council are giving them space to do their work and have asked for them to publish their findings and recommendations within 6 months.”

One of the possible solutions may include paid parking, said Bryan Deputy City Manager Joey Dunn in an interview with News 3′s Morgan Riddell earlier this month.

“The City of Bryan’s new ad hoc Downtown Parking Committee’s mission is to gather information, research, and best practices locally and from other urban areas, and provide recommendations to meet the future goals of Historic Downtown Bryan and address the evolving needs of its residents, businesses, and visitors,” the city also shared in its news release on Tuesday. “The committee members were selected for their diverse backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge, which collectively represent all key private sector stakeholder groups in Downtown Bryan – hospitality, events, restaurants, retail, offices, and residents.”

The results of the committee’s work will be shared here when complete.