Since the Historic Downtown Fayette Commercial Community Improvement District (CID) started collecting a 1-percent sales tax beginning January 1, 2021, it has built a coffer with about $275,000. Now the CID board is ready to put a portion of that money in play by paying for traffic and parking studies.

CID board member Grafton Cook stopped by the newspaper office to give an update on what is coming down the pipe.

Results from studies of automotive traffic, parking, and pedestrian traffic inside the CID boundaries, including a block in all directions, should be in hand sometime in late October. The studies will likely be conducted once Central Methodist students return for the fall semester. Options being taken into consideration will include the idea of making traffic one way around the square.

“I think our situation here merits a study in terms of how we can best serve the people, serve the downtown, and best be safe about it,” Cook explained. 

The CID will fund the studies, which could total around $20,000, and will work with the City of Fayette once completed. The results are expected to influence the city’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget which will be approved in late June of next year.

Cook is a former member of the Fayette Board of Alderman and has a working knowledge of the city’s budget process.

The CID board is also discussing the possible asphalt overlay of the downtown square and adjacent streets when the state plans to repave Highway 240 sometime next year. Repaving is the only practical way to get rid of old parking lines that were blacked out in October 2019 when the city repainted the lines. While the new lines allowed for better traffic flow around the square, the change in angles resulted in a loss of 90 spaces, about 41%. Parking downtown is a constant source of debate.

“I think everyone has concluded that there is really no way to address the parking issues due to the lines. You just can’t cover them up,” Cook said. “It’s going to have to be overlayed. You have to start fresh.”

Elsewhere, the CID board is also working closely with Fayette Main Street, Inc., which is planning a major overhaul of the block of North Main Street between the square and the south entrance to the Central Methodist University campus. Previously, the CID had contributed $35,000 a year to Main Street. The board recently agreed to increase the contribution to $50,000. 

When the CID was formed in 2020, it was estimated that around $135,000 a year would be generated. But Cook said the revenues have been better than expected.

“We’re finally at a point where we have real resources,” Cook said. “When it comes to the overlays and some other things, this is where the tax money is going to go.” 

Another possibility, Cook said, is the CID could help fund a full-time building inspector to be employed by the city. Code enforcement is virtually non-existent in Fayette.

“Enforcement is a big issue,” Cook said. 

Helping building owners pay for engineering reports would also be an interest to the board.