NEWBURYPORT — City councilors will get the final say tonight in where a parking garage should go in the downtown.
After a year of research and reports by TetraTech Rizzo, a consultant hired by the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority, councilors will act on a measure sponsored by Ward 4 Councilor Ed Cameron to choose Titcomb Street as the site.
The MVRTA selected TetraTech Rizzo to undergo a feasibility study to determine where a garage could go last spring, and that contract will be ending soon, meaning the City Council is up against a tight deadline and must vote now on the location of a future garage.
Once that vote is done, the site will be "etched in stone," as one city councilor said yesterday. While the design and size of the garage will all be up for review, the site cannot be changed.
TetraTech Rizzo began with six sites and whittled the choices down to the two now on the table — the Green Street parking lot and Titcomb Street/Merrimac Street. The team has compiled two designs for each site, but none is final. As the plan moves into the next phase, a final design will be drafted.
The MVRTA would own and operate the site.
Preliminary designs depict a multistory parking facility with a bus terminal for the MVRTA and at least 300 parking spaces for cars. The number of parking spaces is based on the plan to replace the 235 parking spaces that will be lost when the Newburyport Redevelopment Authority moves ahead with its plans to construct a park on waterfront land.
The mayor and City Council would both need to agree on the site. Mayor Donna Holaday has already stated her support for Titcomb Street.
Cameron said yesterday he chose to place the measure on the council agenda in order to move forward with the discussion. While's he leaning toward Titcomb Street, he could be persuaded otherwise, he said.
Cameron said councilors will have questions that should be "clearly vetted."
"I think we really need to spend some time being clear, as a community, that's the way we want to go," Cameron said, noting that concerns have been raised about the issue "being rushed" or "done at the behest of the MVRTA."
Cameron said there's no feeling of being rushed on his part, but the issue is part of the decades-old conversation about what to do with the NRA lots.
If the community wants more park, as seems to be the case, the city has to increase the parking supply and offer parking that is centrally located, Cameron said.
Cameron noted that the issue of providing parking after the removal of the NRA lots was a key part of the 2001 Master Plan.
However, some councilors contacted yesterday were not so sure.
Ward 5 Councilor Brian Derrivan reiterated his view yesterday that the city does not need a parking garage downtown at this time.
Derrivan said he will vote against Titcomb Street, when asked to pick a site.
"If we vote on a site, the perception is, we're approving a site," he said. "Speaking for myself, that's not the case."
The city does not need one now, he added, and shouldn't be building one with an idea to help New England Development in their plans to build Waterfront West.
Any development that Stephen Karp builds, they would need to supply their own parking, Derrivan added. "That's part of development," he said.
Derrivan said he's gotten inundated with phone calls, letters and emails from constituents opposing a garage going in downtown and only one email from someone in support of it.
Ward 3 Councilor Bob Cronin, who represents the downtown district, said yesterday he also plans to vote against siting the garage at Titcomb Street.
"I would love to keep the process moving forward but I can't vote for the Titcomb Street site at all," Cronin said. "I think there's too many unanswered questions; I just can't do it."
Cronin said he believes, once built, the garage would sit empty most of time, and the city would lose revenue. The city also has not yet seen Karp's plans for Waterfront West, which would be built right across the street, Cronin added.
The City Council hasn't had time to be part of the discussion, he said, and ask questions, but are now being asked to take a binding vote, Cronin said.
"It will be etched in stone," he said.
The dynamics of the Titcomb Street site have changed since the last time the city looked to put a garage there, Cronin added, including the building of the condos in that area and the addition of Waterfront West.
Cronin questioned if there are other sites around the site that would be a better option for the same price of buying the land from Karp, and said he wonders about constructing a surface lot rather than a garage.
Meanwhile, "Green Street doesn't even meet the criteria," Cronin added.
"It's unfortunate," he said. "I think the City Council got painted into a corner on this one and no matter what we're going to do, we're going to be the bad guy."
Cronin said he's heard from about 50 people who oppose a garage and only three who are in support of it.
"The location is just wrong," he said.
At least some downtown citizens agree with Cronin.
A group of downtown neighbors have formed a citizen's group in recent weeks, circulating documents and collecting signatures on an online petition that asks the City Council and mayor not to pick either of the two sites that are being examined as a location for a multistory garage, but to instead choose "option three" — no garage.
As of yesterday afternoon, the petition had 334 signatures. While the majority of signers live in Newburyport. Others lived in the surrounding towns — Amesbury, West Newbury, Byfield, and Newbury. There were several from outside the area, as well, including Somerville, Worcester, Chelsea, Burlington — even Ohio and Maine.
Tonight's meeting is the first time this City Council has discussed the parking garage site. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.
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