The Fair Plaza parking garage, with 350 spaces, offers convenient free parking for visitors to downtown Tyler, helping alleviate parking concerns during construction. (Tyler Morning Telegraph File)

People appearing for Smith County Jury Duty will need to park in the Fair Plaza Parking Garage at 208. S. College Avenue while the county’s parking garage is constructed.

“The City of Tyler is graciously helping us solve a big parking issue by opening up the fourth floor of the Fair Plaza Garage for Smith County jurors,” Smith County Judge Neal Franklin said. “We appreciate them working with us on this important project.”

The walking distance from the parking garage to the Smith County Courthouse, located at 100 N. Broadway Avenue is 733 feet, while the parking lot on Ferguson Street is 852 feet from the courthouse.

Parking in the Fair Plaza Garage on all four floors, except for the reserved spaces, is free. Jurors are asked to park on the third and fourth floors.

The City of Tyler has also agreed to allow Smith County to bag some of the meters, when needed in the future, for visitor parking and additional handicapped parking around the Courthouse and the Annex Building.

Construction of the county’s new voter-approved, bond-funded parking garage will begin in late October. Still, county employee parking will most likely be displaced earlier when demolition of the current parking lot and fiber/cable relocation begins.

When that happens, hundreds of Smith County employees working in the Annex and surrounding buildings will be displaced for parking and will take over the juror parking lot on Ferguson Street.

“We want to start getting the word out now about the juror parking move so people will be used to the idea well before the lot is no longer available to them,” Franklin said.

Signage will be added to the Smith County parking lot and at the Fair Plaza Garage entrance, located off College Avenue.

Franklin is working with the IT Department and District Clerk’s Office to change the parking address on the jury summons going out in the future.

The jury summons include an option to sign up for email and text alerts regarding the jury service. The District Clerk’s Office plans to alert the affected jurors that the parking location has changed.

Build time for the parking garage is expected to be 10 months. Demolition of the county-acquired properties on the east side of the downtown square will occur during the parking garage’s construction. Construction of the courthouse will begin after the parking garage is completed.

“The decision to build on the east side of the square was based on limiting interruption to downtown businesses,” Franklin said. “We are committed to working alongside city officials and our construction team to keep the lines of communication open with the public and all of our downtown businesses and residents.”

Courthouse business will continue as usual in the current courthouse until construction is complete on the new courthouse and all offices can be moved.

For more information about the project, visit www.smith-county.com/online-services/online-county-services/court-house-planning. For more information about jury duty, visit: www.smith-county.com/government/elected-officials/district-clerk/jury-duty-430