By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Plans to redesign downtown parking will have to be revised — again — now that Jesup Green can’t be dug up to provide additional parking spaces, Randy Herbertson, chair of the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee, said at the panel’s Thursday meeting.
The latest plan will evaluate other downtown locations to add parking to make up for spaces lost at a redesigned Parker Harding Plaza, if that proposal moves forward as currently approved.
A parking structure also will be in the mix of possibilities, the committee was told as part of its “Parking Lots Reinvention” initiative.
“Most important is public engagement,” Herberston said. “Structured parking will be part of this evaluation.”
Jesup Green was vetoed as a site for additional parking when the Representative Town Meeting in May rejected using the green as a site to compensate for spaces lost at a redesigned Parker Harding lot. That plan, advocated by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker, had narrowly won Planning and Zoning Commission approval in April.
A lawsuit challenging the P&Z approval of Tooker’s Parker Harding/Jesup plan also was filed in May by three downtown business owners.
“This has been tumultuous few months,” Herbertson acknowledged.
It now is likely, he said, that the Planning and Zoning Commission will have to review and approve another 8-24 land-use request, based on any new plan for additional parking.
Some committee and RTM members at Thursday’s meeting asked why the parking lots project has taken so long, and questioned the use of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to design another new plan instead of beginning construction.
They also wondered about the future timing of various parts of the plan, including the possibility that Police Department headquarters on Jesup Road may be moved from area, which could provide space for more parking. A study was initiated earlier this year of the possible consolidation of the Police and Fire departments’ headquarters at a yet-to-be determined site.
“I’m trying to figure this out logistically,” said DPIC member Gately Ross, who also is co-director of Sustainable Westport.
“We can’t lose parking spaces and we want to increase green space, but we can’t move forward unless there is more information” about the future of police headquarters and other issues, she said, describing it as “creating a weird situation.”
Jennifer Johnson, an RTM member from District 9 that encompasses downtown, said she was concerned that the ARPA funds earmarked for the project may be time limited. “We have the funding. That should have been done yesterday,” she said of implementing the plans.
And Sal Liccone, another District 9 RTM member, was harshly critical of DPIC.
“We’re sitting here twiddling our thumbs,” he said. “My suggestion is we stop dragging our heels … This committee is a do-nothing committee.”
Tom Kiely, operations director for the First Selectwoman’s Office, said after the meeting the town was awarded a total of $8.4 million in ARPA funds, with $4.2 million of the pandemic-era money required to be used by the end of 2024, and the remaining $4.2 million to be spent by the end of 2026.
Of the initial $4.2 million allocation, $400,000 was used for the Parker Harding design and construction documents, while other shares spent on projects such as a Burying Hill Beach groin, school playgrounds and related facilities, and more.
The second $4.2 million includes a $630,000 allocation earmarked for the design phase of a Jesup/Imperial parking plan, including permitting and geological evaluation, according to the “Town of Westport ARPA Expenditures” document on the town’s website.
State Rep. Johnathan Steinberg, D-Westport, after the meeting said he favors Herbertson’s focus on disseminating more information about possible plans and getting more public comment soon, he said, especially on whether to build structured parking.
“Until you build awareness, you can’t have an educated opinion,” he said.
But Steinberg, who at one time chaired an earlier version of DPIC, also was concerned about the length of time it has taken to adopt — and actually implement — a proposal for downtown parking, a project that has been on the drawing boards for many years, he said.
Steinberg noted the current proposal is the “fifth or sixth” version rolled out for downtown, and that Westport residents are getting impatient with delays in addressing chronic parking problems.
“It’s more urgent than it was even 10 years ago,” said Steinberg, since an influx of people moved to Westport during the pandemic and more residents now work from home.
Steinberg said he also wants to make sure the town’s allocations of ARPA funds are used properly. “I’m worried about how we ae going to spend the funds,” he said.
Employee parking passes, parking structure … and drones
Also discussed at Thursday’s DPIC meeting was a letter signed by five tenants of the Sconset Square shopping plaza asking that a parking pass program be set up for employees of downtown businesses.
They recommended six passes be distributed to each downtown merchant to help manage employees’ need for longer-term parking throughout the work day.
“In addition, we support the construction of an architecturally appropriate, centrally located parking garage to help alleviate the lack of parking in the downtown area of Westport,” the letter said.
“We hope the addition of a substantial number of municipal parking spaces will take some pressure off our parking lot at Sconset Square, which is frequently used by non-square shoppers.”
Herbertson said that permits for employees may not be needed because the three-hour parking limits introduced in May are proving effective in making more short-term spaces available.
“Those spaces were needed to be prioritized for shoppers and diners,” he said. But parking permits for employees could be considered in the future, he said, after there is more time to study how successful the three-hour parking regulations will be opening more spaces.
An informal survey by the Westport Journal recently showed that while short-term three-hour parking spaces are now turning over regularly, the number of available all-day spaces sought by downtown workers is in short supply.
Kiely said that he has learned that some employees who work downtown don’t know that there are many all-day parking spaces south of the Post Road in the Jesup Green and Imperial lots. He said several signs have been posted in parking areas with a QR code that shows were all all-day and three-hour parking spaces are located. When he gave that information to one employee who was unaware of spaces near the Westport Library, “they were thrilled,” Kiley said.
The town is also investigating the use of drones to fly over parking areas to help determine where empty spaces can be found at particularly busy times, he said.
Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.
Its almost as if they don’t have a clue what they are doing….
Because John, to put it very politely, they haven’t got a bulls notion !
The funny part is that people who been around here long enough should have known better than to approve such inappropriate ideas such as those thar had previously been rendered. The newcomers cant be expected to be brought up to speed by just a having a look around. However, not be long winded in my approach here, and i must stress, calmly, the parker harding ideas as standing must be scrapped. The town has a credibilty problem when it comes to maintenence downtown….and… caving into monied special intrests. Leadership has a tendency to role over and play dead in the face of a developer with a fancy car.
Yes Todd, or a fancy bike !
I’m getting very tired of the BS going on in this town.
It’s becoming a joke.
Clueless people deciding the fate of already invested businesses, pandering to landlords, who DO NOT PAY ANYTHING TOWARDS PROPERTY TAXES.
That’s all us merchants !
We pay it ALLLLLL…
So we should have all the say in our success or destruction !
People who never ran retail and restaurants have zero right to interfere.
End of story !
They have not got the first clue about how to run a downtown business.
From what Drew Friedman taught me, when the Dma kicked him out of the org he had founded… was that the merchants need to organize without them. We started doing that and the dma came around saying we’ll do whatever you want. The basically made a bunch of bs promises to stamp out the organing momentum we had. So basically you need to go to the merchants and the managers, start a new organization, or else you keep getting screwed by the people…the people whom agenda is not yours as biz owners on main street. Actual biz owners on Main Street proper…. they will jump to join…. but watch out for the undermining…their agenda runs contrary to yours…
What is also being overlooked here is that the downtown has also lost a substantial number of spaces in the Bedford/elm street lots and on church lane ( 7 months plus of the year), when it is closed to benefit a few businesses.
Those space’s are conveniently not being factored in on the balance sheet, which for some very strange reason is factoring in only Parker Harding. The loss of those alone sits up around 70 more.
Had DPIC committee, been appointed some retail and restaurant merchants 2 years ago, all this time wasting could have been nipped in the bud.
Merchants would have been able to express their thoughts on this, and previous plans, simply not working.
It’s very bizarre, and ironic, to have a committee with no retail or restaurant business owners represented, especially when the representation from the chamber of commerce and the downtown association could not be more polar opposite to the opinions of 98% of the merchants in the downtown.
It’s like the most important voice in the room is missing, on purpose.
Honestly hilarious and mad quite frankly.
IMPERIAL IS NOT A PARKING LOT
As for the imperial lot. We have already established it is in a residence zone and has never gone before planning and zoning for the rezone required to even make it a parking lot. It is not a legal parking lot. It is also deeded to the Westport women’s club. It is also too far from most of the downtown to be treated seriously. Just like customers do not want to park there, nor do staff.
Also the question of shuttle buses ( as were there in the 1980’s) and security, working cameras etc.
and then there’s the question of all the special interest groups who use the dirt lot, very regularly, including the farmers market.
And look that’s all wonderful but a bit like the choice to close church lane, 7 months of the year, we cannot have our cake and eat it.
The imperial dirt town lot appears poised to be more of a convention centre or a place for special interest groups.
You just have to read the dpics description of the future plans for it on their website, which in no way focus on either parking or shuttle buses.
All these questions have been asked til we are blue in the face.
Sweeping them under the rug is what has us at this juncture.
Parker Harding plaza parking lot was created and 80% paid for by merchants in the 1950’s because back then, yes you guessed right, we had a massive parking problem. We also had a population of 12,000 not 28,000 so needless to say the problem is now gargantuan, with likely 10x the cars on the road as in 1950.
Some of the most bizarre comments have been made by members sitting on that committee who have said that it will be lovely for people to, drive to downtown and park, go for a stroll, maybe use the playground, have a bite to eat, stroll some more, get in some shopping only to then maybe eat again !
In 3 hours ? I don’t think so, in fact I know not !
A meal takes the bones of 2 hours, and add to that, getting to and from your car.
So you’ve got 30 minutes left to shop if your plan is to eat.
On the other hand if your plan is to shop, you certainly do not have time to eat.
So much for the economic vitality of the downtown. It will go to hell in a hand basket and fast.
Every day tens of our customers tell us that they are disappointed to not be able to go shopping after their lunch, because they are rushing back to their cars and do not have the time left to shop. That is beyond unfortunate. The rationale behind 3 hour parking makes zero sense. ( except of course to put people off, oh and to make it appear that we do not have a parking problem)
Those customers tell us they just leave Westport to shop now at the sono mall where parking is not timed.
Surely any town concerned about its businesses( who are the economic vitality) would want customers be they residents or visitors to be able to come and eat and shop, and not have to choose one over the other. And certainly not lose customers after lunch to the sono mall !
And one last thing, because I happen to be an employer in this town of 63 employees, many residents amongst them,
Some members of DPIC need a lesson in business 101. !
If staff cannot find parking, businesses will not open. If businesses do not open, why would customers come ?
So please stop with the “this is not about the staff rhetoric”
It is about everyone. The staff have a right to park also. And not in the booneys.
This town needs reasonable parking for all of our customers and staff, and sensible access.
Unless we are actually trying to bankrupt it.
Smdh
Speaking of timed parking, anyone care to guess how long you can actually park in the Elm Street lot? If you answered three months you would be technically right. The reality, however, is that you can store vehicles, work trucks – and even trailers – in the Elm Street lot for as long as you like – or some resident protests- whichever comes first. The good news is that, if you wish, you or perhaps someone in your employ can also live in said vehicle(s) (please note that the periphery of the lot doubles as a restroom). Worried about enforcement? Don’t be. Any resident raising concerns about stored vehicles will be told by the police: (1) “prove its been there more than 3 months”, (2) “it’s not our problem, call town hall” and (3), “people living in vehicles have rights too”. Still worried about enforcement? Don’t be. After you and your vehicle(s) get kicked out (by the police) just wait a little bit and then then come back.
Drones? Just what we need! Haven’t been back to Levitt Pavilion since drones ruined a concert there (they were so loud they turned the music into a sideshow).
A well designed parking structure with an aesthetic exterior is logical. If done well, it could actually be an art piece on the riverside – more so than the present rear facades of the stores.
It really could. That, I could get on board with. A parking garage on Parker Harding that does not adversely affect the home owners close to or abutting Bedford/elm.
In fact that would seem far fairer.
Thank you for that suggestion. I had not heard it mentioned before.
No reason why the parking garage” proposals” can’t be at Parker Harding.
This is a great idea. Keeps the flow of traffic next to the stores but out of the center (elm). Egress to post road. The top level to be a huge park over looking the water, a park all Westporters could be proud of. Keeps the cut through. Doubles parking at Parker Harding. This is the greatest idea of all.
The Town could accomplish something outrageously intelligent to solve an intractable problem with an aesthetic that speaks to its history and its future.
Here’s the thing !
The town didn’t put any merchants ( yes go figure) on the committee…
Why. We all shaking our head !
The merchants are the lifeline of this town !
Pretty obvious !
It is self explanatory !
It’s amazing how many idiots we have to school on how business gets done ‘
I do not care what the town of Westport does !
What it is doing is destroying my business !
That is all that matters to me !
I have had enough with this !