News

Parking garage? Economy dims chances

By Katie Farrell
Staff writer
Published: January 4, 2009

Editor's note: This is the final in a two-part series on Newburyport's downtown parking dilemma.

NEWBURYPORT — The same arguments have been voiced for years.

City leaders, business owners and shoppers have advocated for a downtown parking garage, saying there simply isn't enough parking and the downtown retailers need it to survive.

Others say parking isn't a problem at all, and what the city needs is to keep its open space and parks. A garage will hurt views of the waterfront, they say, and doesn't belong in downtown Newburyport.

Still, mayors have long tried to bring a parking plan forward.

Last February, Mayor John Moak unveiled a proposal to build a downtown parking garage off Pleasant Street. His idea was to build a three-to-four-story structure at the Prince Place municipal lot and some surrounding land, which is between State and Green streets. Moak's plan would include a 180-by-190-foot structure, which he said at the time equals about 35,000 square feet per level, or enough to park 100 cars per level.

Moak said last week he is waiting for the findings of the city's newest parking consultant, who is reviewing all of the city's prior parking studies in hopes of finalizing two strong options, before bringing any plan forward to the City Council for a vote.

"Of any of the parking proposals that have been presented, I felt the Prince Place one had the most potential for helping development, getting people into downtown," Moak said. "There's a lot of positives to that proposal."

Still, residents who live in the immediate area, such as the Mercantile Place condominiums, have voiced their concerns over congestion and blocked views.

It's not the first parking garage plan to hit a speed bump.

In 2002, the City Council narrowly defeated by one vote a plan by then-Mayor Al Lavender to build a garage at the corner of Merrimac and Titcomb streets. After years of planning by then-Mayors Lisa Mead and Lavender, the city would have borrowed $8 million for a 370-car parking garage. The city lost a $5 million state grant to help build the garage that would have gone across the street from Lombardi Oil where the BP gas station was located.

Ward 2 Councilor Greg Earls served on a parking committee under Mead and advocated for the proposal to build a garage at the corner of Merrimac and Titcomb streets.

Earls said last week the location was "a good connector" that would expand Merrimac Street into the downtown. Also, he said, the committee felt the construction of the garage wouldn't disrupt downtown like a Green Street garage would, hurting the city's tourism rate.

Today, bringing that proposal back under these economic times would be difficult, he said.

"It's a hard sell right now," Earls said. "It would have to come with lots of help from the state; I can't see going into debt for a garage."

For former Mayor Mary Anne Clancy, parking was a top priority from the start of her one term, starting in 2004.

Clancy formed yet another parking committee, one that did an extensive study, surveying all available properties. While Titcomb and Merrimac was looked at again, for her group, the best choice was a three-story garage on Green Street.

Clancy said last week the feeling then was similar to ones being voiced now — Green Street is more accessible to downtown, and people don't want to park on the waterfront and walk up to downtown. A garage has to offer enough spaces and generate enough revenue to pay for itself, she said. Clancy said the group studied ways to make it cost-effective and to offer options like resident passes.

"The plan, I thought at the time, was the better one," Clancy said. "I think it would have worked."

Designs were rendered and the city looked to be on the verge on taking a big step forward and finally bringing a garage to downtown.

But after a series of public hearings and meetings, the proposal simply hit a dead-end.

"It just didn't fly," Clancy said. "We just didn't get a consensus. I sort of just ran out of time."

The former mayor said she does envision a garage coming to Newburyport at some point, after the economy starts to take an upwards turn again.

"We need to sort of stay the course," she said.