The volunteer group that oversees off-street parking in New Canaan wants the 15 non-handicapped spaces in the Pine Street parking lot for downtown commercial—as opposed to commuter—use, and designated at 90 minutes for each space at a rate of $1 per hour.
The Parking Commission additionally will recommend to those in charge of on-street that the seven parking space up alongside Mrs. Green’s on Pine Street switch from 15 minutes—a relic from the post office days—to 90 minutes.
Business and town leaders attending the commission’s meeting Thursday night at Lapham Community Center urged the group to designate the spaces in the Pine Street lot—that’s the one on the northeast corner at Park and Pine, where you can exit by driving past the postal mail drop-off boxes—for commercial rather than commuter use.
“I understand that at one point it was a commuter lot,” Tucker Murphy, executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce and a guest at the meeting, said when asked for her view. “I think you have been hearing a lot of need to keep it as an open lot. I think it should stay as a lot for people who are going to Walgreens, to Mrs. Green’s, to wherever they are going.”
Jim Luchessi, a commercial property owner in downtown New Canaan (on Main and Forest Streets), said there’s a definite lack of parking for people using the downtown.
“Everyone knows that,” Luchessi said. “I hear it from my tenants every day. I hear it from their customers every day.”
The Parking Commission at its May 1, 2014 meeting decided to make the Pine Street parking lot a non-commuter, commercial lot for downtown use, with 90-minute paid spaces at a rate of $1 per hour.
The Pine Street parking situation emerged as a major discussion topic in New Canaan with the April 18 opening of Mrs. Green’s and what has been described as a lack of planned parking for staff and customers.
Harry Traub, principal of ESP New Canaan LLC and an owner of the former post office building at 2 Pine Street where Mrs. Green’s is located, said the 26 spaces located beneath the market will be designated for customer use and that another 22 on street-level might be shared between Mrs. Green’s and Oxygen Fitness on a schedule that accommodates the busy hours of each operation.
Traub apologized for the parking problems: “They [Mrs. Green’s] opened a little early and we’ve been talking through this process about certain things here. In the evolution of how this has worked, it hasn’t quite gone as we would have liked it to go.”
Ultimately, permits for 15 spaces at the Center School lot may be issued to Mrs. Green’s workers.
Part of the difficulty in deciding what length of time to assign to the Park Street lot spaces is that the area falls on the edge of the “Magic Circle” downtown (90 minutes) and Pine Street on-street parking (2 hours).
Town Council Chairman Bill Walbert, a guest at the meeting who has worked out of a downtown office for 13 years, said he would like to see all downtown parking go to two hours.
“Restaurants and lunch are a much bigger part of what drives the downtown than 13 years ago,” he said. “And I’m constantly hearing complaints from people that they can’t have their lunch even in an hour and a half and wander the streets to get their ice cream and do what else they’re planning to do. New Canaan is a destination town. Most of the plates are from out-of-towners and they’re coming to spend the day with their strollers, their grandparents and it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
Some parking commissioners pushed for 1-hour spots, saying nobody needs more than 20 or 30 minutes to get their shopping done at Mrs. Green’s.
Parking Bureau Supervisor Karen Miller urged the group to keep in mind that Pine Street itself is two hours and that the parking lot should fit into the larger “complexity of the area.”
Addressing Rick Franco—secretary of the Parking Commission and owner of Francos Wine Merchants on Elm Street—Miller said:
“Don’t you want people to go to Mrs. Green’s and then come to your store and buy a bottle of liquor and then go to something else, too?”
To that Franco quipped: “They should buy a bottle of liquor before they go to Mrs. Green’s,” drawing appreciative laughter from the room.
Parking Commission Chairman Keith Richey said he views the Pine Street lot as the western end of downtown’s Morse Court, and opened up the question of how much to charge for the newly designated 90-minute spaces.
The commission decided to go with the Morse Court rate of $1 per hour, though Franco had sought to assign a $2 rate.
“We are discussing 50 cents. We should all enroll in group therapy,” he said.
In New Canaan, the Police Commission oversees on-street parking. Though one advisory group has already said that the former 15-minute spaces up alongside Mrs. Green’s should be consistent with the rest of Pine Street (2 hours), the commission recommended a 90-minute designation there. The Police Commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for June 18, according to the town calendar.