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10/15/2019 04:37 PMThe town is moving forward on a plan to reduce parking congestion around the Guilford Green by allowing employees of restaurants and businesses to park in the St. George Catholic Church parking lots.
By solidifying two agreements, one with the church and one with Whitfield and Water Shoppes, a company that owns property and buildings along Whitfield Street on the west side of the green, the town hopes to avoid parking shortages and congestion that has at times caused issues for people wanting to patronize the many stores and restaurants in that area.
The plan, which Economic Development Coordinator Brian McGlone first presented to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) a little over a year ago, involves designating particular areas of the St. George lot for any worker or employee who opts in to the program, and also extending a sidewalk from the parking lot to the street.
The town also has plans to extend an ADA accessible sidewalk in order to allow people to make their way safely from the parking lot to the businesses, running from the south side of the St. George driveway to the building on the northern corner of the shops, containing A Hair of the Dog pet groomer and Flutterby gift and clothing store.
Whitefield and Water Shoppes agreed to an easement for the sidewalk, which was approved by the BOS on Oct. 7. That easement will still need to go through the Planning & Zoning Commission and be approved at a town meeting, which is set for Monday, Oct. 21 at 8:15 a.m. in Town Hall, 31 Park Street..
First Selectman Matt Hoey said that St. George would provide around 75 parking spaces. The town is not paying St. George for the spots, but will provide liability insurance for those parking areas.
“I think it’s going to create substantial opportunity to relieve the lack of parking at certain times,” said Hoey. “This is particularly going to be crucial as we get into the holiday season.”
Hoey said there were somewhere around 200 employees across all the businesses along that area. On weekends at peak hours, he estimated there might be 100 cars belonging to employees taking up parking spaces.
Employees and owners of businesses along Whitefield Street who spoke to the Courier mostly expressed optimism for the program, though they also said parking had not been a particularly urgent issue for themselves or customers.
Mark Klein, co-owner of The Purple Bear, a toy store not far from the church, said it was “lovely, gracious” of St. George and the town to cooperate on the project, but that he had not heard of any parking shortages.
“Our impression, our staff’s impression is we’ve never had a problem,” Klein said.
He had not heard any of his customers complain about lack of parking either, he added. Very rarely, on peak days or holidays, Klein said the parking lots fill up, but that was “an anomaly.”
An employee at South Lane Bistro, which sits back from Whitfield Street and is relatively close to the church parking lot and planned sidewalk, said she could imagine the opportunity to park at St. George being very useful. Having lived in New Haven for some years, she said she found parking in Guillford to be extremely convenient, but said due to the restaurant’s location, she could imagine it being useful on particularly busy days or when there we special events on the green.