Businesses moving into Hamlet will no longer have to provide a certain number of parking spaces. The Hamlet Town Council recently voted to repeal its off-street parking requirements, in preparation for a development being proposed just south of U.S. 30.
Council President Dave Kesvormas said the previous rules required stores to provide one parking space for every 120 square feet of sales space. “In the case of a potential vendor, a merchant coming into town, they would need to have 61 parking spaces, and they typically only use 30 because it’s high-volume and it’s that quick,” Kesvormas explained.
On top of that, he said that few, if any, of the town’s existing businesses would actually be in compliance. “They wrote an ordinance that makes no sense,” Kesvormas said. “And I don’t want to enforce it, and I don’t want somebody outside reading that. That would definitely hinder us from having any interest.”
Town officials agreed that any business willing to invest in operating in Hamlet would make sure to include enough parking on its own, and Kesvormas didn’t think it was necessary for the town government to regulate the number of parking spaces.
