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09/19/2018 04:47 PMThe area around the green is often busy, and finding a convenient place to park is often a challenge. To address the issue of limited parking, the Economic Development Commission (EDC) is seeking an agreement with St. George Church to take advantage of its large lot and free up more parking spaces.
At the Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting on Sept. 17, Economic Development Coordinator Brian McGlone updated the board on efforts the commission has made previously to improve parking and current initiatives to add parking.
A few years ago, the town improved the parking lot behind the shops on the corner of Whitfield Street and Water Street. McGlone said that project was mainly a success, but a few parking spots were lost in the reconfiguration of the lot. As a result, he said the commission started looking more closely at the issue of parking in the area.
“Residents and businesses were asking for help because they did start feeling the loss of those spaces,” he said. “On the EDC, a couple people took on the task of looking at parking going down Whitfield Street predominately from St. George down south to Water Street and down Water Street over to Augur’s [Irish Pub] and then in the back lot. We came up with 260 spaces available throughout all of that area, which again predominately serves those stores and businesses.”
While 260 spaces might seem like a lot, McGlone said the commission quickly realized shop employees and owners can take up a lot of those spots.
“Then we talked to the business owners and found out with all of them there were about 125 employees alone serving those businesses and that includes some of the rental tenants up above,” he said. “Granted not all 125 are there all of the time, they come with shifts, but we realized there is a good portion of that lot just supporting the employees.”
To find more parking, McGlone said the commission looked at a couple potential options, but said the most attractive and feasible option was to strike some kind of agreement with St. George Church for the use of some of its parking.
The St. George lot “is often underutilized and to their credit they assisted us during the parking lot renovations and let us use that space,” he said. “We asked for 75 parking spaces that would really be identified for merchant use, the employees. Not that we would hold back if a resident used one, but the idea was the merchants would start moving there and freeing up a lot of space in the primary lot.”
McGlone said the town has a tentative agreement with St. George for the 75 spots and while the town would not buy or rent the spaces, St. George did ask the town carry some liability insurance for the spaces. McGlone said the agreement has been reviewed by the town attorney and the commission is now ready to go talk with business owners.
“Assuming you are in agreement with the concepts, we want to determine the actual costs,” he said. “Then the next steps would be to go to the property owners and the businesses, because another part of the agreement is we would put a little tag off the windshield of the cars that is color-coded so that we know it’s from these businesses or these groups so we know who to go back to if there are any issues or problems.”
If everything moves forward, McGlone said the town might also want to think about a sidewalk to better connect that parking lot with Whitfield Street and the shops. Selectmen also suggested the commission make sure the town has enough handicap-accessible parking spots when thinking about this issue. Selectmen Lou Federici said while the parking challenges downtown can be a headache, the struggle for parking can in some ways be seen as a good sign.
“The reason there is more pressure is the businesses around the green really seem to be thriving,” he said. “It’s encouraging.”