Village not sold on need for garage, study
Board members don’t see shortage of parking spots in business district
Village Board members are unenthused by the notions that a parking garage would be a cost-effective way to solve parking problems or that an $18,000 study would find a way create new spaces.
The issue was addressed during a board meeting this week at which trustees said they don’t consider there to be a shortage of parking spaces in the village business district.
“I don’t think a study is necessary,” Trustee Terry Parisian said. “I think a study is a wasted amount of money.”
Albert Bruno, a member of the village Transportation Advisory Council, told the Village Board in October that Michigan-based consultant Carl Walker had proposed conducting a village parking study for $18,200.
Of building a parking structure, village Special Projects Coordinator Alex Wade said in a report that the council is “still discussing the unaffordable parking garage” even though some council members “questioned the need for
additional parking.” “I don’t think we need
it,” Wade said of a garage. “... People are just lazy ... and I don’t think they want to walk.”
Village Mayor Bill Murphy agreed that drivers need to use available
spaces, and he noted the lot across from Cahill Elementary School can be used on weekends and holidays.
“People can utilize Cahill,” he said. “Is that really a big walk?”
The school, at 134 Main St., is less than a quartermile from the intersection of Main and Partition streets in the center of the village business district.
Village Board members
noted there also tend to be spaces available in the lot off of John Street behind the village offices, as well as in the lot off of Partition Street behind Mirabella’s restaurant.
Trustees also are working
on proposed changes to regulations for overnight parking in municipal lots. Revisions are being made to limit the amount of time a vehicle can be left in a space to no more than two nights.