New Downtown Parking Lot Approved

People driving around trying to find parking downtown will have an easier time following a decision by the Sevierville Planning Commision to build a new downtown parking lot.

The lot will face Bruce Street between Court Avenue and Parkway. Its design, which was approved by the city’s Public Building Authority in December, features 77 parking spaces, as well as a landscaped area featuring a brand new gazebo.

The topic was brought about recently as the city and the Public Building Authority debated remodeling the Bruce Street at Court Avenue parking lot.

The PBA actually went ahead an approved the design as presented with the idea of encouraging more downtown weddings and so forth. In recent years, the parking lot has been used for large events like the Bloomin’ Bar-be-Que and Bluegrass festival, but that’s primarily it.

Plans call for the lot’s availability, if the city proceeds, to be scheduled for May 1, which is 16 days before the 2013 Bloomin’ BBQ & Bluegrass festival.

Construction could run anywhere between $334,000 and $342,000.

Following the city’s Bloomin’ Barbecue & Bluegrass festival, the lot will receive finishing touches including a top coat of pavement, striping and landscaping.

Speaking of the Bloomin’ BBQ and Bluegrass Festival, the town’s 9th annual festival dedicated to all thing BBQ and bluegrass is coming up quick. It is a family oriented event marking the oncoming of Spring in the Smoky Mountains, championship barbeque and world class bluegrass music. Bloomin’ Barbeque & Bluegrass takes place each year during Smoky Mountain Springfest in historic downtown Sevierville, Tennessee. The Barbeque Cook-Off is an official barbeque championship of the state of Tennessee and is coordinated by the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce.

During the meeting, it was reiterated that the lot would serve as the site for the town’s Bloomin’ Barbeque & Bluegrass festival, which the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce annually stages in May.