Free parking on Roberson Street will remain a reality for Carrboro’s downtown visitors.
The Carrboro Board of Alderman finalized a $600,000 agreement Tuesday to buy a vacant lot at the corner of Roberson and Greensboro streets. The town has been leasing the lots for free parking for more than a year.
The lot formerly housed the Andrew-Rigsbee Hardware Store, which was torn down to make way for the proposed Roberson Square mixed-use development.
But plans for Roberson Square halted earlier this year when Suntrust foreclosed on the property Jan. 2.
Alderman Sammy Slade said there were six other entities bidding for the lot.
While most of the aldermen approved the purchase, Slade said he opposed purchasing the lot — which has about 90 parking spaces — for environmental and traffic reasons.
“The traffic issue is that in Carrboro we have a bottleneck situation,” said Slade.
“Without alternative roads, more cars will be coming, and traffic there will be worse.”
Slade also said that he felt the additional parking would deter the use of bikes, public transit and walking.