By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — As plans to add more downtown parking at Jesup Green and the Imperial Avenue lot move forward as part of a new, three-phase project, questions about the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee’s process in making the recommendations were questioned Thursday.
A $630,000 request for design money for the Jesup/Imperial part of the project was on the agenda of the Board of Finance meeting Wednesday — before DPIC members had voted on it.
The new downtown parking scenario — switching the initial focus to design more spaces in the Jesup and Imperial lots before the much-debated Parker Harding redesign advances — also has not been communicated to downtown merchants and the public, several merchants said at DPIC’s Thursday meeting.
“There was a request for an appropriation that didn’t come before this body. It was before we even saw or voted or discussed what was being asked from us. This is problematic,” said Matthew Mandell, a member of both DPIC and the Representative Town Meeting. “This was out of sequence. I want to ensure that this body does things in proper sequence.”
The Board of Finance on Wednesday ultimately postponed consideration of the $630,000 appropriation until its next meeting.
DPIC then voted Thursday morning, after the fact, to formally request the proposed expenditure, which is likely to be added to the finance board’s March agenda.
Merchants and residents on the Jesup Green side of the Post Road had a right to know about the appropriation and the revised timetable for downtown parking plans before the issue was added to the Board of Finance agenda, Sal Liccione, a District 9 RTM member, told the committee.
When Randy Herbertson, the DPIC chairman, replied that they will be told “at the appropriate stage,” Liccione said, “It should be now.”
Also complaining about a lack of information was resident Toni Simonetti, who admonished the committee, saying, “You can never communicate too much. I recommend you over-communicate rather than under-communicate.”
Herbertson on Monday had outlined to the Westport Journal the three-phase plan that DPIC envisions for redeveloping downtown parking lots. The timetable was changed to respond to concerns that parking spaces at Parker Harding Plaza will be lost.
The revised plan calls for additional spaces to be designed for the Jesup/Imperial lots; complete the Parking Harding project next, and then carry out work at the Jesup and Imperial lots in accordance with approved designs.
The next step will be to allot additional parking, temporarily, in the Taylor Street lot, located below the Westport Library and next to the Saugatuck River. More parking in that area will become crucial when the Parker Harding lot is remodeled, closing one-half of that lot first, then the other half while work is being done, Public Works Peter Ratkiewich told DPIC.
Fifteen new spaces can also be added immediately to the Imperial Avenue lot, he said, because all it requires is new striping there. The entire Imperial Avenue lot will be redone later as part of the overall project, he added.
Other parts of the plan involving Jesup Green discussed Thursday include the possibility that boats may eventually be able to cruise down the Saugatuck to the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge spanning the river when a federal dredging job is complete, and whether that would affect the plan.
Another uncertain element is the possibility that Police Department headquarters might eventually be moved from Jesup Road to a new public safety complex including Fire Department headquarters and the Emergency Medical Service. “That would have a profound impact on the design project,” Ratkiewich said.
Herbertson called the Jesup Green side of Post Road East “a culture area” because of the proximity of the library and Levitt Pavilion. These institutions create different usage and parking patterns. particularly since drivers park there for longer times and often converge at the same time for performances and other scheduled activities.
DPIC will work with the library on landscaping in the area with the help of a grant, he said.
The Jesup Green area also presents some environmental problems “requiring geo-technical investigation,” Herbertson said because the library and the Levitt are both built on landfill, which will require working with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Designs for adding temporary parking spaces at Jesup Green will be referred to the town’s land-use boards and commissions during March or April, according to Herbertson.
“We will be holding public forums throughout the [Jesup] project,” he said, similar to a charrette held on Parker Harding last August. DPIC will also send out surveys and continue to hold public meetings throughout the process, he said.
Also asking questions at the meeting were several merchants. including Annette Norton of the Savvy + Grace store on Main Street, who was assured that signs directing customers to Jesup Green would be installed during renovation of the Parker Harding, to particularly help out-of-town customers locate parking.
Norton also asked if more parking spaces could be added on the Main Street/Parker Harding side of the Post Road.
Herbertson said no. The only way to provide extra parking there would be to build a parking structure, he said, noting the recently remodeled Baldwin lot off Elm Street has been designed to accommodate a parking garage if town officials ever decide to do so.
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.
It was very clear from the meeting which I attended that the FS was the one who placed the request for funding on the BOF agenda. As usual … no regard for procedure. Again proving she does not care about procedure or process. And certainly not businesses, with maybe the exception of the farmers market.
Also very clear was that nobody wanted to throw anybody under the bus.
Matthew Mandell also head of the chamber of commerce and an rtm member as well as being a DPIC committee member , correctly pointed out to the DPIC committee that there had been no vote taken re this money they were looking for, and stated he did not feel comfortable about the process. He acknowledged residents want transparency.
Max crowley asked that charette type media, cute glossy photos, be used because he said it was so successful during the “placate the residents l, with the reinstatement of the cut through “ which was in an effort to get them off dpics back and leave the merchants, many of whom are also residents to fight the parking on their own.
It was a divide and conquer policy.
It oozes shade in the extreme.
We as a town need to decide if we want a downtown, or we do not.
We can certainly turn our downtown into a beautiful green space replacing parking with trees grass and river walk.
I mean that is a very viable option.
Residents can come and park, and enjoy river walks and the outdoors. But they will not have stores to visit.
If that is the direction we are aimed, it is a pity we didn’t warn merchants that this was our town goal before they signed leases, because that is not a formula with the avaricious rents merchants pay that will work in order to sustain enough business to survive as a merchant. And may I add here nobody moved to Westport because of the FS, or DPIC.
I certainly did not.
If as a merchant you told me most of your customers/ mostly residents, will not find parking, and we don’t care where your staff park or if they can even find parking then I would have never chosen to open in Westport. Nor I guess would anybody else.
On the contrary my understanding was and is that our residents want and value a downtown filled with great stores and restaurants. I am a resident I know that is what I want.
But possibly I am seeing that through a warped crystal ?
I do know one thing, we cannot have both. That the FS portrays we can stems from vengeance, and hating push back on her asinine ideas.
We have struggled for years with parking. Years she has been in office.
And for years residents have overwhelmingly had these 2 comments.
Staff should use imperial for parking,
And as a town we need to support our merchants who pay outrageous rents.
Those are the most common threads.
Those are both valid.
They do need support. They need fair policies.
If anyone is expected to park at imperial then provide a shuttle bus.
It is 17 minutes walk to the j crew end of Main Street.
It is a very scary off the beaten track lot. Somewhere rapists and robbers will lurk.
It is a perfect target for carjackings and robberies and someday soon one of those will go wrong. Someone will get killed. I for one as a downtown merchant will be letting the FS know, that in no uncertain terms, having highlighted the dangers, if anything happens to one of my staff, I will sue them for all they are worth.
I’m not sure DPIC or FS, realizes how many of the residents children of Westport work in the downtown stores.
Many !
And consequently will be parking at the imperial lot.
Make it safe, with a shuttle, and available all day, every day 7 days a week.
Love the farmers market but they do not pay a dime of property tax nor are they entitled to claim jurisdiction over the imperial lot.
They are our guests.
If the IMPERIAL LOT is the parking lot of choice for staff then it MUST, be available to staff on a Thursday 10-2
This goes without saying.
While we look at pecking orders and the likes.like it or not, the farmers market are guests at the imperial lot.
They do not pay property taxes, they are 4 hours a week guests.
They are the bottom of the pecking order.
All be they fabulous.
IF the imperial lot is being used in downtown numbers, then the farmers market might need to find a new home.