After 3 p.m., the cheapest parking near Canton Street is a 394-space deck the City of Roswell isn't charging for. The deck is free because Green Street is closed for construction. When the street reopens, which the city has scheduled for this fall, the reason for free parking goes away with it.
The deck opened May 4 at 1056 Alpharetta Street, at the north end of Green Street. It is the largest parking structure Roswell has built in more than 30 years, paid for with $20 million from the $179.6 million bond package voters approved in November 2022. Since August 1, curbside parking on Canton Street has run on a new schedule. Put the two together and the cheapest place to park now depends on the time of day.
Three O'Clock Is the Dividing Line
Under the city's parking pilot program, the first two hours of on-street parking are free from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day of the week. After those two hours, parking costs $3 an hour, up to $24 a day. Outside the free window, $3 an hour applies from the moment you park. The hourly rate went up from $2 to $3 with this change.
These rules cover Canton Street between Magnolia Street and Norcross Street, Elizabeth Way between Canton Street and Alpharetta Highway, East Alley between Canton Street and Norcross Street, and the East Alley Parking Lot. The city also set aside two 30-minute free spaces on Elizabeth Way for quick stops.
The deck is free at all hours while Green Street construction is active. Here's what that means for common downtown trips, priced with the published rates:
| Trip | Canton Street curb, today | Green Street deck, today | Deck under the approved fee framework |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday coffee, 10 a.m. to noon | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Saturday lunch, noon to 2 p.m. | $0 | $0 | $1 to $5 per hour |
| Weeknight dinner, 6 to 9 p.m. | $9 | $0 | $1 to $5 per hour |
| A full evening out, 5 to 11 p.m. | $18 | $0 | $1 to $5 per hour |
The last column is a plan the city has approved but not put into effect. It keeps the deck free from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and charges $1 to $5 an hour on weekday evenings and weekends. Under that plan, weekday mornings stay free whatever else changes. Evening and weekend trips are the ones whose cost depends on the city's next decision.
The Deck Is Free Because Green Street Is Closed
The free deck began as a construction accommodation. In March, City Council voted 4–2 to approve a pilot program that included fees at the deck. A pre-construction field assessment then found that Green Street would have to close completely for the Green Street Activation Plan. That project converts the street to one-way southbound and adds a brick-paved multi-use trail, underground utilities, new lighting and landscaping, and a future trail link from Plum Tree Street to Canton Street.
The closure also took over the 66-space gravel lot at 1056 Green Street. Council had planned to make that lot dedicated parking for downtown employees, but the contractor now needs it for construction staging. Losing it was part of the city's reason for waiving fees at the deck. Mayor Mary Robichaux called it an adjustment "to maintain access and support our downtown while construction is underway."
Waiving the fees has a cost. According to city records reported by Appen Media and cited by the Roswell Ledger, the city expects to give up about $262,000 in pilot-program revenue that it would otherwise have collected before the pilot ends December 31. A city that has already written fees into an approved plan has a financial reason to start collecting them.
The closure runs from Cherry Way to Alpharetta Street. Green Street stays open southbound between Woodstock Road and Cherry Way. The city chose a full closure to cut the project from about 12 months to about six. With work starting in early May, the improved street was expected to open in fall 2026. As of early October, that April estimate is still the latest public schedule. We haven't found a firmer reopening date or a reported delay in city releases or local coverage.
What the Deck Puts Within Reach
The deck's location matters as much as its price. It is about a block from Canton Street, directly across Alpharetta Highway from the Southern Post mixed-use development. Drivers get in from Alpharetta Highway at a traffic signal, so they don't have to cut through residential streets. The brick facade and corner stairwells were designed to echo the Historic District. During construction, the city asks people walking downtown to follow the posted pedestrian signs.
Some newer stops downtown make a walk from the deck worthwhile. V's Coffee Collab opened its first shop in September at 34 Webb Street, Suite 104. Owner Harrison Bernard is a musician who has roasted coffee for about four years, and he pairs each bag with work by a local artist. Next door, Nicole and Mike Dorazil moved their candle studio, West + Peak, to the same address and opened Roswell Supply Co. as a companion shop. It offers hand-poured fragrances, Sip + Pour workshops, and local lifestyle apparel.
Distance is the deck's main limitation. At the March 9 council meeting, Jenna Aronowitz, owner of 1920 Tavern, said the deck is too far from the south end of Canton Street, where parking demand is heaviest. She described it as "eight minutes away" for her guests. Free parking eight minutes away and paid parking at the door are both reasonable choices, and the right one changes with the hour, who you're with, and which end of Canton Street you're headed to. Before 3 p.m., the curb near the south end costs nothing for two hours. After 3 p.m., the curb costs $3 an hour and the deck is free.
Monthly events add to the evening demand. The city lists Alive in Roswell as a third-Thursday event that runs April through October. If that pattern holds, the last one this season falls on October 15, which is after the free curb window closes for the day. The city hasn't posted parking or shuttle instructions for specific fall events, so the general rules above are the best available guide.
The Dates That Decide What Changes Next
The current setup depends on several separate decisions, and each one could change it:
- October 13, 2026. City Council's next regular meeting. None of the council meetings from August 10 through September 28 took action on the downtown parking pilot.
- "Fall 2026." The city's stated reopening window for Green Street. The deck is free "during active construction on Green Street," so this date matters most for evening and weekend parking.
- December 31, 2026. The parking pilot ends, and with it the city's usage-data collection.
- January 2027. Council plans to review the pilot data and decide whether to keep the deck free or start charging.
If fees do start, residents won't get a discount. The city dropped an earlier idea of free parking for Roswell residents because telling residents from visitors at scale, in a city of nearly 100,000 people, was judged operationally unfeasible. Everyone would pay the same rate during paid hours.
Downtown parking will grow further in 2027. Hillrose Market is under construction at 39 Hill Street, across from City Hall, on the former police headquarters site. It is planned with 510 parking spaces, including a new 370-space shared-use deck, surface parking, and valet service for the retail district, plus a walking trail to the Canton Street Historic District. Earlier city materials described a deck of about 350 spaces, so the final number may still change. Its buildings are expected to start opening in November 2027, and council has deferred decisions on parking at Hillrose and City Hall.
For now, the rules are simple. Weekday mornings and midday trips are free at the curb or in the deck. Evening and weekend trips are free in the deck until Green Street reopens. After that, the cost depends on what council decides in January.
The team at Occasio Collective follows downtown Roswell's council agendas and parking changes the same way we follow its sales data. If you'd like to know how the Green Street work and Hillrose Market could affect a particular street or property near Canton Street, reach out and we'll walk through it with you.
