By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Plans to redesign Parker Harding Plaza’s parking lot — withdrawn after a rocky review by the Planning and Zoning Commission last October — are expected to be re-filed in coordination with upgrades for other downtown lots, according to Randy Herbertson, chairman of the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee.
A requested $630,000 appropriation for design services to redevelop the Jesup Green and Imperial Avenue parking lots is on the agenda for Wednesday’s Board of Finance meeting, the first step of a multi-phase plan to improve all three lots, he said Monday.
The new approach to making parking-lot upgrades, according to Herbertson, is in reaction to concerns about loss of parking spaces under the Parker Harding plan.
And, because the Planning and Zoning Commission was occupied by the debate over plans to build a new Long Lots Elementary School, he said, the Parker Harding redesign project was put on hold.
“We haven’t stopped Parker Harding. We paused while P&Z considered Long Lots [School building project],” Herbertson said Monday. “We didn’t want to distract them during that time.”
Plus, he added, “people were very hung up on the parking inventory” lost after the Parker Harding redesign — estimated at 34 spaces — without being counter-balanced by additional spots envisioned for other downtown lots.
The new approach is to complete preliminary designs for additional parking in the Jesup Green area before moving forward with the Parker Harding project.
“We need to find out what we can effectively do to recapture some spots [at Jesup Green] that we can’t help but lose at Parker Harding,” Herbertson said.
Matthew Mandell, a member of both DPIC and the Representative Town Meeting, agreed.
“Parker Harding is still going to be going forward. The concept at this point is to have Jesup done prior. That would free up parking spaces,” he said. DPIC will meet soon to review the revised order of the projects, he added.
Herbertson listed three phases of the re-worked plan for the Parker Harding, Jesup Green and Imperial lots:
- Phase 1: Determine how many new parking spaces can be added at Jesup Green.
- Phase 2: Complete the remodeling project at Parker Harding, where spaces will be lost to meet fire codes and Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.
- Phase 3: Finish upgrades at Jesup Green and Imperial lots.
“The ultimate goal is to make sure we’ve maintained and grown our parking capabilities fully up to code, but at the same time capture more green space, particularly near the waterfront,” Herbertson said.
The appropriation for design money that the Board of Finance will consider Wednesday, if approved, will come from American Rescue Plan Act funds, and will not be paid by the town, Herbertson said. The Parker Harding remodeling will also be financed by ARPA funds, previously appropriated by the Board of Finance.
There are important environmental issues to be considered in the parking lot projects on both sides of Post Road East, he added. Parker Harding is vulnerable to flooding from the Saugatuck River, and Jesup Green abuts the Westport Library, which “was built on a dump,” Herbertson said. The Imperial Avenue parking lot will also require flood-mitigation features.
After the initial plan for Parker Harding Plaza met with resistance from merchants and residents who live near the downtown area last year, DPIC drew up a revised plan that restored 11 spaces and the cut-through road from Post Road East to Main Street, which was eliminated in the first proposal.
Before that revised plan was withdrawn after the P&Z’s skeptical review, it had won approval from other boards, including the Conservation Commission, Architectural Review Board, Historic District Commission and Flood and Erosion Control Board.
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.
Here we go again, with the biggest ANTI BUSINESS plan this town will ever see. The merchants in downtown have not heard a word about any of this. But then again, why would we? In Westports now, ( no surprise) relentlessly untransparent manner there has not been a peep from the DPIC who are the FS handpicked committee of choice and “henchmen” because a better description escapes me. Not a word from downtown association whom many merchants are members of and pay money to, and not a word from Westport weston chamber of commerce who are most certainly meant to have merchants best interest at heart.not a peep.. why would you bother to include merchants when you can just sneak around having
private meetings and then surprise us all with announcements out of the blue.
Make no mistake these parking lots are in need of serious maintenance and ADA, and crosswalk improvements. That goes without argument from anybody. No genius award for that one.
The accessibility for our residents and our visitors to the downtown in terms of parking has been lacking especially for our physically challenged and our aging population for years.its not new news. It’s almost as though, like long lots school which was let get into such a horrible state over the past 10 years, only to now be a rebuild instead of a maintain, same with ALL of our parking lots.
Seems they were both let go to hell with an agenda of starting over and rebuilding instead of maintaining. Enter new designs, taking none of the merchants views and opinions into account. None whatsoever.
Westports town managers are great at building new shiny trophy projects but not any good at spending the money to maintain them. Think about it look at the disgraceful state LLS is in, think about our ballfields, , think about our schools, and think our parking lots.
SOLUTION: let’s knock the school down and build a new one, after all it is ONLY the residents money.
Let’s let the parking lots go to hell in a hand basket by not spending a dime on them over 10 years plus. It might even be 15 years.
And last but by no means least let’s let our ballfields get into such a state that we will just find another spot and build a new one.
A common theme, heh, yup.
Why do an oil change on your car, when you can just break it and buy a new one WITH tax paying residents money.
Unless the town of Westport changes its pattern of “let it fall down or become full of pot holes and do zero maintenance or inadequate maintenance( because it’s not as sexy or showy) only to then use our tax dollars to rebuild, redesign, at enormous expense, then in a few years we will be back talking about all of this again only it will be, shock, horror, about the new shiny trophies let go to hell yet AGAIN.
The FS woman’s state of the town speech had the nerve to talk about how important listening to the residents and merchants( many are also residents who own the non corporate stores) when she clearly does not listen. It’s all in one ear and out the other. How can you say you love downtown businesses and take hundreds of opportune photos at ribbon cuttings, only to then be hellbent on removing or shrinking parking because of a plan designed years and years ago in a different time. When Westport had lots of empty storefronts.
Step in the mathematicians and politicians. Let’s shut this uncivil bunch up by leaving the cut through road and they will stop shouting and objecting. Let’s get rid of all loading zones after 10am, really smart, when nobody gets deliveries until they are open after 10 am.
Yep I am not making this up.
That gets us 20 more Barbie sized spots to make it look like less of a loss, doesn’t matter that those deliveries ( as sure as you see 5 prime, ups and fedex trucks on your streets every day) will happen. There will be I assure you 40’ trucks double parked in the middle of Parker Harding often for 20 minutes delivering boxes and food and furniture to the merchants. Delivery companies work from 8am-9pm. They deliver when it is our turn.
We as merchants do not have a say in it.
Then let’s see, next the “flood mitigation” which we all know would be nice to have but the green area proposed is going to do absolutely nothing for flood.
But it’s a great tissue box excuse..
one that has emerged recently in 2023 as now being one of the major justifications for this ludicrous plan.
Have any of you ever tried to get into a small narrow short sized perpendicular parking spot in a lot with 2 way proposed traffic and a couple of 40’ foot trucks double parked for as long as 20 minutes doing deliveries in the middle of the road.
Disaster.
But, for residents and merchants listening to the alarm bells sounded by some very concerned and smart individuals, we would now be under major redesign and reconstruction of PH lot only to end up with an utter “lemon”. We all know as the owners and lessees of the downtown properties that are Main Street and jesup and post road, that we need parking. Our businesses cannot survive if our patrons and shoppers cannot find parking.
SOLUTION; make it 3 hour parking so it looks as though we have some empty spots here and there. So we force the staff to park at imperial, or elsewhere.
PROBLEM: imperial is in a worse state than PH, it looks like it last saw maintenance just after world war 2.
It is remote, and it is unsafe( think robberies and car jackings)
It is hardly lit, it is 15 minutes walk minimum from many of the businesses at the J Crew end of Main Street.
It needs a regular town shuttle bus.
And I am very sure once that happens it will be somewhere staff and residents and visitors will park if they cannot find parking in the downtown.
It is and always has been the FIRST lot which should have been renovated.
Residents for years have been advocating for staff to park there. Well I have news for DPIC, there are 1000-1200 staff working in the downtown.
So let’s get imperial fixed immediately.
Let’s get shovels in the ground tomorrow.
It will be the easiest by far to fix, will cause almost no traffic problems during construction. You DPIC has counted it in downtown parking, so let’s get it done.
🤔I wonder what is stopping you ?
There is no point in showing us more Barbie sized shrunk impossible to get into parking plans for jesup so you can attempt to justify ruining Parker Harding because the FS is bound and determined to get her own way, which is what this is ALL about.
Might I remind her and DPIC it was you who decided to close church lane to traffic and parking more or less permanently for 8 months of the year thus rendering 20 plus parking spots cut off for use and attracting hundreds more cars with people , great idea for some merchants/restaurants on church lane not so good for the rest of the downtown. More burden on parking with out doubt.
So we removed parking from church lane, we removed parking from Baldwin,
SOLUTION: let’s shrink the parking spot size at Baldwin, so Barbie can park there and we look like geniuses. Only those of us who own and work in businesses, those of us who frequent downtown know better. It’s a disaster.
Parking is a disaster.
The most ANTI BUSINESS plan I have ever heard. Purposefully going after parking and replacing it with a shiny new project can be interpreted as nothing less.
The FS says she is listening. Then please do us all, Westport, the residents, and the merchants a favor and
Fix the imperial lot first.
If you do not, while work and maintenance is going on on PH and Jesup Green, there will be nowhere near adequate parking to sustain the downtown.
Because of the selectman’s office failure to do maintenance over the decade(s) we are now in a position where we have no choice but to close the lots for months and months.
That will drive residents, shoppers and restaurant patrons away from our town unless we provide them (NOT AFTER THE FACT BUT DURING ) with alternative parking.
And habits form fast.
They will find new places to shop and new restaurants to go to and won’t return.
So fix the IMPERIAL lot first.
It’s the logical thing to do. Put on a shuttle bus and do these lots in the correct order.
If you do not then do not tell us you are pro business.
If you persist with dogged determination to pursue the parking lot re do’s without fixing Imperial first then you will have proven the ANTI business label as accurate, and be remembered as the FS who brought the businesses in Westport to their knees.
IMPERIAL LOT MUST BE FIXED FIRST
The Imperial lot and a frequent shuttle could help if merchants and their employees can be required to park there. However, the path to downtown is over a footbridge, passing the police station and the Levitt. It’s a long hike and not a place that retail customers will want to deal with, so they will cruise and jam the “Harder Parking” Plaza whether in its current or proposed shiny new version. It must be a nightmare for the merchants. No one would feel safe walking that path alone in the dark, and bright lighting would not make its neighbors happy.
Many months ago I sent FS a letter proposing that the Imperial Lot which is over 6 acres could be used for additional town athletic fields. My letter, and similar suggestions to Parks and Rec and the LLSBC were unanswered and ignored. I can predict with reasonable certainty that Ms. Webster’s cogent arguments will be met with the same silence. This is another opportunity for the FS and her minions to listen, but probably not respond. When those Westporters who value the weekly farmers’ market at the Imperial lot realize that it (like the community garden) is forced to find a new home the FS will face new outrage. Will she devise another “compromise”?