Map Shows 2,000 Parking Spaces in Downtown Catonsville
Map created by students in CCBC's geospatial applications program sheds light on current discussion on parking.
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Catonsville business and community leaders are breathing new life into discussions on improving parking along the Frederick Road corridor, and a map has surfaced that may shed light on the problem.
Baltimore County officials have agreed to study parking along Frederick Road at the request of the Chamber of Commerce. While some private lots in Catonsville are informally open to all, many smaller lots strictly enforce towing. Other than meters along Frederick Road and a few side streets, there is not a public parking lot.
The recent study was spurred by a series of meetings held in February and March by business and community leaders on how to make Frederick Road more friendly to pedestrians.
In 2010, students at the Community College of Baltimore County documented all of the parking spaces in downtown Catonsville and compiled the data on a map.
The students are part of the geospatial applications program led by Professor Scott Jeffrey.
According to their map, a total of 2,066 spaces are available in downtown Catonsville, including all lots and meters. While officials haven't talked about taking away private lots, they have talked about making at least one lot (the parking lot by Friendly's) an option for a public parking lot.
Many readers have commented on Patch that finding parking can be difficult, though current and past presidents of the Chamber of Commerce have made the case there is plenty of parking in Catonsville, it just isn't accessible to all or clearly marked.
You tell us: What do you think of the current parking in downtown Catonsville? Do you have trouble finding parking?
In This article
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Community College of Baltimore County Catonsville
800 S Rolling Rd, Catonsville, MD -
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Greater Catonsville Chamber of Commerce
924 Frederick Rd, Catonsville, MD
Ron Wise
10:53 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Who knew there was so much parking available? Prof. Jeffery and his student's project is a true public service. I wonder why the County hasn't thought of it? I hope a map will be prominently posted in a couple of places along Frederick Rd.
Penny, I would like to see a map displayed here in the Patch that's large enough that I can read the street names. Thanks!
Mark Lundin
10:59 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
For the most part, I believe there is adequate parking in Catonsville. I have never had any issues. On days such as the parade/fireworks or arts festival, it is to be expected there will be problems, so more people should plan to walk or bike. I think in general, people complain there is no parking if they have to walk a block or two. Folks have to consider that downtown Catonsville is not the same as a planned shopping center with dedicated parking.
Penny Riordan
11:06 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Ron, you are right, if you click on the map it does allow you to zoom in, but the image quality on our site is pretty poor. I'll mess around with it in a bit and see if I can't get the image quality to be better.
Scott Jeffrey
12:23 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
If anyone would like additional information on the map please contact me:
Scott Jeffrey
Professor and Program Director, Geospatial Applications Program
CCBC-Catonsville
800 South Rolling Road
Catonsville, MD 21228
sjeffrey@ccbcmd.edu
443-840-5936
N L B
12:49 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
The biggest part of Catonsville's small town charm is not having a parking lot for each store as you would on a large commercial strip. Parking is sufficient if you don't mind walking a block or 2 which years ago we would do without question. My guess is the "officials" are again trying to find an excuse to meter the parking lot behind Friendly's strictly for revenue purposes.
Penny Riordan
2:26 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
N L B, yes, I've heard many a public official or business leader say that Catonsville has plenty of parking, but that it's not all fully utilized. Some readers have said over and over on this site that it's hard to know which lot tows and which lot doesn't, or where to park if all of the metered spaces are taken on Frederick Road. In fact, the lot behind Friendly's technically isn't public, even though it is treated as such. I'm just speaking on my recent knowledge while writing about the issue. We linked in the story to some past articles, which include interviews and comments from people in Catonsville about parking.
To be clear, I certainly have not heard mention of anyone trying to create a 'big-box' lot similar to anything along Route 40 or anywhere else like you said where commercial strips exist. Hope that helps!
Catons-villain
1:47 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Are the "open parking" the areas highlighted in pink on the map?
If I have my map-reading skills working correctly, some of these "open" spots are church parking lots. (Upper right looks like St. Timothy's -- two ball fields, the tennis courts adjacent; upper left looks like St. Mark's -- school, church, media center layout is familiar to me. Not to mention Catonsville United Methodist, and Salem Lutheran (which I *think* I can ID on the map, but hard to explain in words where they are.)
Who maintains those lots? The schools/churches or the County? Not sure if they can be classified as "open" parking if they belong to the schools/churches. My 2 cents. :-)
Penny Riordan
2:12 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Thanks Catons-villain, yes, the pink is just simply documented parking spaces, but not necessarily open to the public. That was the purpose of the map that Scott and his students put together, to document the number of actual parking spaces.