Businesses, Residents Voice Opposition to Metering North Adams Parking Lot
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Downtown residents and businesses were loud and clear on the idea of metered parking in the Center Street lot: Just hold off.
Nearly two dozen people attended Tuesday's Public Safety Committee meeting to weigh in on an ordinance change that would end two-hour free parking and restore parking meters to some 60 parking spots in the Center Street lot.
They urged the city to do some research on how the lot is being used before instituting any changes.
"I'm not sure what it's about," said MountainOne President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Fraser. "I don't understand the haste with which we're moving forward to implement a meter system."
The administration had asked for the council to approve the ordinance change based on a decision of the Traffic Commission. The meters in the lot had been replaced some time ago with ticket kiosks, but the last kiosk stopped working more than three years ago. The rules didn't change, with the lot offering free two-hour parking, and payment in excess of that, but with no way to make the payment.
Mayor Richard Alcombright has couched the change as a matter of enforcement because it was difficult for officers to determine who had been parking in the lot for more than two hours. Metering would simply make enforcement easier, he said, by eliminating the free parking and charging everyone 25 cents an hour in line with other lots. Restoring them lines up with some already planned upgrades to the lot.
But business owners are saying that restoring the meters won't make it easier for customers, visitors and employees.
cExactly what is the problem that we're trying to solve there by putting in coin meters?" asked Jeffrey Thomas of Lever, which has offices at 85 Main St.
Part of the argument for re-installing meters has been that permit-holders were unhappy they are paying monthly fees ($30 for days; $35 for 24 hours) while others were parking for free for hours and that could cause them not to renew. The permits replenish the parking meter account to the tune of $40,000 or more a year.
But Fraser dismissed that notion as "anecdotal" since MountainOne is not only the largest employer using the parking lot but also holds most of the parking permits — nearly three-quarters of the city's 100 or so available. If there were more, the bank would buy them, he said, even with the free parking.
"Are we friendly to bringing people downtown?" he asked, adding that the bank was at a disadvantage against competitors if its customers had to pay for parking. "If I raise fees on accounts by a quarter I'll hear about it. ... This is an inconvenience and a hardship for us."
Craig Barnum, a leasing agent with Scarafoni Associates, the major landlord in the downtown, said the issue had been raised suddenly without discussion of unintended consequences to a drastically altered environment — buildings have been razed, retail has changed and residential housing resurrected.
"Parking is truly oxygen to these buildings and if it doesn't have the right amount of oxygen there can be real consequences," he said. "We are actively showing space in all the downtown buildings. We are selling them on the idea of that oxygen, so to speak, in that lot."
If the city changes the conditions of the lot, it changes the conditions under which tenants took those spaces, Barnum said. "We would raise a pink flag, if not a red one, to say wait, we truly don't understand the consequences."
Bark 'N Cat owner Christa Abel said the mix of uses surrounding the lot, essentially the front door for most of the buildings, should be taken into account. While customers might spend a few minutes in her store or at the bank, they could spend hours at the Shear Madness salon or at Lever and Cloud 85. Plus there were nonprofits and residential spaces.
"I don't think it's a type of lot that uses meters," she said. "There's like way too many uses going on, way too many needs."
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__________________________________ Related stories North Adams Council Wants More Data on Parking Lot Changes North Adams Panel Endorses Return of Center Street Parking Meters |
Aleta Moncecchi, program director for Berkshire Community Action Council, said even 25 cents could be an issue for her clients. And if they get tickets, the nonprofit would probably end up paying for them. It would also cause problems for the mostly senior volunteers who help with the holiday programs; making them park farther away in the free private lots in cold weather would be a burden.
Carol Kendall, who lives in one of the Holden Street units, said parking is already "neglected for residents."
Traffic Commission Chairwoman MaryAnn King, the former parking meter officer, said parking prices have never been a big issue in the city, that rents have been more a problem for businesses. A lot of the cars in the Center Street lot are people who are working downtown, not visitors, she said.
But Bryon Sherman of Smith Watson & Co. said he echoed all the complaints he'd heard.
"When we moved up here in 2000 there were meters then and we almost moved out because of those meters," he said. "The change to this structure was a godsend. ... I don't understand the need. I don't see why anyone complains."
The City Council will take the issue up again at its meeting next Tuesday. The ordinance has already been passed to a second reading.
Tags: parking, parking meters,
