NORWALK, Conn. – The development that seems certain for the Wall Street area is going to carry a surprise issue for Norwalk as the “empty space” that has plagued the area suddenly becomes “no space left” in terms of parking, Parking Authority member Dick Brescia said Wednesday.
Brescia led a discussion of Wall Street parking issues at the Parking Authority meeting, where Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Tim Sheehan also chimed in with concern.
“Spaces over time are going to begin to disappear,” Sheehan said. “The value of on-street parking and the garage parking is going to quickly escalate. Then the whole premise of what is being put forward is that we want to be in front of that and trying to incrementally advance that rather than being on the back end of it.”
Brescia explained some of this to his fellow Parking Authority members in a Wednesday email:
“When I started this project last fall, I was primarily looking for a way to suggest increasing revenue for the Yankee Doodle Garage. Permit sales were the cash cow and transient revenue was mediocre… 17.5%. Coming up with a recommendation to boost income by itself, not a difficult task.
“Unfortunately, I have found that nothing in the Wall Street area is “by itself’. While absorbing input from Mayor Rilling, Tim Sheehan, Kathryn Hebert, Hal Alvord and Stathis Manousos (of LAZ Parking), I discovered I could not deal with the YDG without bringing into consideration neighborhood business concerns, customer and resident concerns, on-street parking issues, POKO, Globe Theater, the Public Library-Post Office-Courthouse complex, and, of course, the city’s plans for revitalizing the entire area through The Norwalk Redevelopment Plan (approved by the Common Council in 2004). With this crowded picture as a backdrop, here are some “numbers” based on some assumptions that I believe we should evaluate as a first step in finding near term and long term approaches to the parking problems.
GARAGE:
“The YDG has a capacity for 410 vehicles. The NPA projects that 238 of those spaces will be utilized for monthly permits … leaving 172 for transient users. I have toured the garage twice (a small sample) and found more than 150 spaces unused the first time and more than 100 the second).
ON STREET:
“It has been suggested that parking on the street is a contentious subject. Some businesses and citizens want unlimited free parking … others think that the current 2-hour limit is not working because staffs of businesses are jockeying their cars around throughout the day to avoid ticketing (while taking up space that might be used by potential customers … I have not yet confirmed that premise with any of the business owners). Be that as it may, studies have shown that on-street parking meters are an effective way to create space turnover, which suggests that meters should be reconsidered for Wall Street.
“Assuming they will be added, here is an option we should be explore that may help solve multiple issues.
GARAGE:
“Set aside 100 spaces within YDG (we can start with a smaller number to test the waters) and offer them first to business owners for their employees or renters at an attractive monthly rate. Currently, any individual can park in the garage for a maximum rate of $4.00 per day (8A-6P) … that would equate to $20.00 per week on a MONDAY THRU FRIDAY basis or, $80.00 per month (YDG currently offers BUSINESSES a monthly rate of $37.00). I’m proposing that we offer Wall Street business owners a rate of $20.00 per month for their employees or renters (an average of less than $1.00 per day). This would free up spaces on the street and at the same time increase YDG revenue by $24,000 annually (100 spaces X $20 = $2,000 X 12 months).
ON STREET:
“Should on-street meters be employed, their rate … projected as $1.00 per hour … will be more expensive than garage parking ($0.75) encouraging parking at YDG as well as on-street “turnover”.
“These numbers (if they hold up to scrutiny) are only the first step in creating a NPA strategy. Last year we discussed plans to “reach out” to businesses and customers in Norwalk to put a “face” on the NPA. The Wall Street area provides us an opportunity to reach out and involve business owners, customers and residents in the area to help us refine a plan for which they can take some ownership. We also need to engage with Redevelopment to obtain a long range perspective. If the YDG/On-street meter plan is successful, we may need to include the parking assets of Wall/Mechanic and Main/High to help develop a continuing strategy for solving area parking and citizens’ access needs.
“On the “access” issue, we already have pressure in the Wall Street-Belden Avenue section which houses the Post Office, Court House, Library and “new” Globe Theater … important locations for Norwalk citizens. I know the subject of a pedestrian walk-way from YDG to Wall Street has been discussed in the past. I believe this subject is worth revisiting. An easier access would not only be helpful to reach the four mentioned buildings, it may also be a positive for other merchants in the area.
“… The Public Library. I note in my study that we are charging this Norwalk asset $37.00 per space for 16 spaces per month. I believe we should do better than that … using the number I’ve suggested for Wall Street Garage/business owners might be a starting point. (please note that my wife is a member of the Board)
“A final thought…this memo is designed to PROMOTE DIALOGUE among us, fix the weaknesses that may have been overlooked and, importantly, set the stage for creating a calendar for “REACH OUT DIALOGUE” action.
The point, Brescia said, is partially that the Parking Authority needs to reach out and engage the Wall Street community, which should become a typical procedure throughout the city. People need to see that the “Authority” is just a group of Norwalk citizens volunteering to make the city better, he said.
“This Wall Street Redevelopment Plan, like a lot of the other redevelopment plans, the parking aspects are so critical to this,” Brescia said. “… The parking is shrinking and hopefully the growth here, we seem to be on the brink of seeing the Wall Street area come back and that’s the good news. The bad news is, where the hell are we going to put the people who are having to park? So we are into a situation which helps us to work hand in hand with Redevelopment as well as communicating with a segment of the community, the business owners the people who live there.”
“There has been a real concern on the Redevelopment Agency’s part that the … city has lacked attention to the parking in the Wall Street area,” Sheehan said, mentioning that the city has looked at parking lots as a way to leverage development. When and if POKO’s Wall Street Place comes to fruition, the Leonard Street parking lot will also go away, with implications for all of the businesses that are currently taking advantage of the lot, he said.
While POKO would have an automated garage, that type of parking doesn’t work for every business, Sheehan said. Everyone comes out of the movie theater at the same time and if they all go looking for their cars in that garage simultaneously, the wait would be an hour, he said.
It’s been a long time coming, but development is pushing its way up West Avenue; the Eagles lot on Mott Avenue has been sold and the developer is coming up with a plan that likely won’t include public parking, Sheehan said. The same developer also recently purchased the People’s Bank there and is likely to work on the same type of project there, Sheehan said.
“What we have kind of taken for granted as somewhat of an area that’s not having necessarily a huge demand is now beginning to ramp up very quickly with on-street and off-street demand,” Sheehan said. “I think that wave is coming at us that, all of a sudden, what we thought had a tremendous supply is going to become very crunched in quick period of time.”
“It’s going to be a space problem because there will be no space left. If we are ahead of curve, there may be near-term action we can take and always with a long-term thought in mind where this is going,” Brescia said.
“I think the sooner we can figure out what the authority’s direction is and then bring the city along with that…” Sheehan said. “Because it’s going to come quicker than we think it is, and I’d rather be ahead of the problem than on the back end of it, and all of the problems associated with that.”
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