Hartford
In an effort to get ahead of the curve, town leaders have commissioned a study that will analyze parking trends, and try to solve the problems before they start.
Interested members of the public are invited to come share their views and experiences during a public meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday in the Hartford Town Hall.
The meeting will be hosted by White River Junction-based Vital Communities and Resource Systems Group, the two entities hired as consultants to conduct a $20,000 study and present a list of recommendations to the Hartford Selectboard in October, according to Aaron Brown, transportation program manager at Vital Communities.
“We want to get their input on how parking is currently meeting their needs,” Brown said, “whether they see any parking problems such as capacity or safety issues. Would they like better lighting somewhere? Are there ways they could get into downtown without using cars? If there was expanded alternative transportation, would they use it?”
Brown said they’re open to all ideas at this point in the process.
“We want to know what advantages might be brought about if parking meters or kiosks were installed. Would this help the business community by turning over parking spots for customers, or is it politically unfeasible?” he said.
People who parked in and around North Main Street on Wednesday afternoon had mixed reviews on the idea of parking meters.
Scott Battison, who works at a local antique shop, said they might be a deterrent to customers at area shops who want to run into a store without the hassle and expense of feeding a meter.
But Audra Bonds, an employee at a local food Co-op, said she would feel “great” about parking meter revenues going into the coffers.
“I like that it goes back into the community,” Bonds said. Bonds, who lived downtown until about a year ago, said she has had no significant parking problems.
Others said that any parking issues they’ve had have been minor.
“I’ve had no problems,” said Ana Ocasio, a Planned Parenthood worker who said she parks at the local park and ride two or three times a week. For her, the worst-case scenario is parking at the far end of the lot from her destination.
“It’s hit or miss,” said David Frey, who’s been living at Hotel Coolidge for the last two months while working on a contract in town.
Frey said that when he returns to the hotel at the end of a work day he sometimes has to circle for five or 10 minutes to wait for a space to open up, a problem he considered manageable.
Battison said parking has been more of an issue for him recently, as more and more people have found a reason to come into the downtown.
He said there are periods of peak demand, which he associated with local conventions and events, and periods of low-use, usually in the mid-to-late afternoon.
“Locals have to park all day,” he said. “The key is to maintain access to the front strip for customers.”
A recent parking survey of the town’s 332 municipal-owned parking spaces in the downtown area found that street parking along North Main, South Main and Currier streets had the heaviest usage, filled to between 85 and 100 percent occupancy both in the morning and midday.
But two municipal lots remained well below capacity, with anywhere from 30 to 80 percent occupancy, according to survey summaries provided by town Planner Matt Osborn.
Osborn said the town has been tracking parking data since 2005, when it became clear that revitalization would happen.
“Parking occupancy is going up,” Osborn said. “Not at an alarming rate, but we keep having new projects coming online. We’re trying to avoid having a parking problem.”
Osborn said he wasn’t yet sure what solutions might come out of the process, which will include three public meetings and an online survey.
“It’s not like we can magically create more parking. We have a historic downtown. We don’t want to see historic buildings being demolished for parking lots,” he said.
“At this point, the purpose is to solicit community input. We’re not in the solutions mode quite yet,” he added.
Any time a project is proposed for the area, planners and town leaders have scrutinized its parking demand.
For example, during a June 20 meeting before the Hartford Planning Commission, commission members questioned how a $25 million assisted living facility from developer Byron Hathorn would impact parking.
One member “voiced concern regarding where a resident of the facility who did not have an on-site parking space would park,” according to draft meeting minutes. Hathorn’s representative responded that they anticipated the project’s residents would only take up five parking spots, with an additional demand being created by the project’s 50 employees, whose on-site presence would be spread out over three shifts. During a public hearing, a resident asked the developer to build an underground parking garage.
Other projects include the recently completed Northern Stage Theater, a mixed-use development slated for the corner of Bridge and Main streets, and a renovation of the Gates Building that will expand the Tuckerbox Restaurant and make way for a farmers market.
Brown said some parking solutions, such as a possible reorganization of the parking spaces in the nearby Windsor County Courthouse parking lot, would cost little-to-no money, while others could potentially be funded by money from the White River Junction tax increment financing district, which sets aside some property tax revenues created in the district for infrastructure improvements.
The parking problems, he said, are a good problem for a community to have.
“The downtown continues to get more and more vibrant,” he said. “The bottom line is, that’s eventually going to put a strain on parking.”
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.