Hey, it's free parking at Whole Foods this weekend (maybe)!

Update @ Friday evening - The pay-to-park service was not working the Whole Foods parking lot this evening. Guess that means it's free parking from now on??

Looking for some free parking on Lower Greenville this weekend? Let BD make a suggestion ... check out Whole Foods parking lot for the best close-in free spaces.

Code Compliance cited the parking lot operator last Saturday evening for an illegal use of the property for a second business, and told him to not come back until the City issued a permit. And that ain't gonna happen!

On Monday, Code Compliance sent the property owner partnership (which includes current City Council Member Mitchell Rasansky) a letter informing them of the violation, with a caveat to not allow any pay-to-park services on the property.

And finally, the City gave a notice of violation to store manager Ada Austin for illegal land use and charging for pay-to-park services after hours, and was advised to stop the services immediately.

A review of building permits by BD and others at City Hall shows that Whole Foods never applied for any kind of permit for a pay-to-park service. You can see a list of all permits issued for this address, going back to 1979, by clicking here.

As of Thursday evening, the old towing signs are still hanging by a thread on posts around the Blockbuster side of the parking. If Whole Foods had contracted for a towing service for this weekend, new signs would have to be installed 24 hours prior in order to be legal.

While we hope they would not risk another citation by bringing the pay-to-park service, anything is possible on Lower Greenville.

So unless something happens on Friday, it looks like it's open season for free parking on Whole Foods and Blockbuster's parking lot.

Enjoy it while you can.