City officials continue to assess the parking situation in downtown and look to make changes when deemed necessary, Deputy City Manager Patrick Roberts and Economic Development Director Kevin Hughes said recently.

Despite the perception of a lack of parking in downtown, the two officials say the numbers tell a different story.

An informal study conducted by Hughes’ staff in April of last year showed an average of 262 parking spaces available in the downtown area on weekdays. Anywhere from 140 to 409 spaces, depending on the day and time of day, were open, according to a spreadsheet Hughes provided.

If there’s any parking problem, Roberts said, it’s that there’s too many spots available.

“The biggest parking problem I see is there’s only one car parked on the road when I drive down South Saratoga Street at 8:15 in the morning,” he said.

The city has made several changes to downtown parking in recent years in response to user requests. Those changes have included moving two-hour spots in the courthouse parking lot to be closer to businesses, changing signage and striping median parking along North Saratoga Street.

The city also bought some privately owned lots between South Commerce Street and South Main Street and turned them into a public lot. Based on Hughes’ spreadsheet, it typically has the most spaces available of any in the downtown area.

“It’s free all day,” Roberts said. “It’s a 90-second walk at a comfortable pace to the courthouse. I think it’s a really convenient lot that is under-utilized. I never see a shortage of parking there.”

Roberts said the city continues to evaluate changes, including looking at signage to make it more obvious where visitors are allowed to park.

“Are we better served to have more standard green and white indicators?” he asked.

Hughes and Roberts also encouraged local merchants and their employees to park farther away from their businesses to leave the more convenient spots for customers.

“Public parking is a group strategy,” Hughes said.

Hughes said the city remains open to discussing with any private owners the potential for making their lots public, as it did with the Commerce Street lot.

“That was a successful model,” he said.

Roberts said people sometimes ask about whether the city will go to paid parking. He said he does not currently see a demand for it, but the city will keep an eye on the issue.