2007-03-22 ad Hoc Parking Task Force Minutes

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C16-a Ad Hoc Downtown Parkin Committee Meeting T 0 kviq E R K Larch 22, 2007 R ; , I N G ,1'i ~ S . P I GO The meeting convened at 7:.30 pm in the Town Hall Berger Room, 18 Lowell. Stre ea ing I1 K Present were Chairman Gil Rodrigues (GIL); Members George Katsoufis (GK.; Tom. Quintal (TQ), David Talbot (DT) and Julie Thu rlow (JT). Also in attendance were Town residents: Adele Blunt, Rick Shaffer and Donna Barnes. 1 Minutes. The minutes from the meeting of February 8, 20,07 were discussed and approved (4-0-1)- 2 Public comments Adele made the comment that commercially leased on-street spaces along High street north of Woburn street should be made available at 7.00 am instead: of the current 3.30 am. Donna shared her experience with a flyer distributed by the owner of 2 Haven Street announcing the availability of 12 commercially !eased spaces (possibly numbered H25-H37). it was commonly agreed that these spaces were initially leased for the use of future building tenants. Rick voiced his opinion that for 50 years the parking problem was acknowledged but during the last 10 years it is exacerbated with the development of Reading Cooperative Bank and 2 Haven Street. In his estimate, there. are 110-120 parking spaces. that.these two developments never had to build and-that the. Town has had to accommodate. Julie said that a mains reason for this observation is that there are fewer vacancies in the downtown compared to what was before 10 years. Discussion was held about how Article #25 of the Spring. 2007 Town Meeting warrant attempts tomake requirements far mixed-use- developments and requirements for commercial developments equivalent. Julie replied that keeping the 300-foot exemption in place maintains values in the downtown. David added that the Town cannot afford another development-to the magnitude of 2 Haven Street- that utilizes 100% public parking for its users (public lots and on-street). Tom agreed and said that the downtown has a saturated employee parking demand. For Julie, this scenario is unlikely since current market conditions (with respect to commercial parking) would not allow this type of investment. it was commonly agreed that parking shortage hurts businesses. George said that zoning needs to be revisited at some paint and in the manner that employee and customer parking requirements are not lumped: in one requirement in the bylaw, while examining a possible tiered system of requirements in support of small businesses' viability. Motion: made by David and second by Tom for the Committee to adopt the following statement: „Continuing the "304-foct exemption" in the zoning bylaw, as written today; presents a serious risk of worsening today`s already tight downtown parking:. supply.. While the Parking Task Force takes no position on Article 25, the Task Force recommends that the Board of Selectmen undertake a study to make appropriate bylaw changes to remove this risk." Votes- 3 in favor,. 2 against for reasons of not having studied the matter and not wanting to imply a change of the bylaw.. Result: The motion did not carry through (4 votes in favor needed). ~R