New London parking lot seen as economic driver
New London — It’s not often the city welcomes local and state dignitaries to a ribbon cutting for a municipal parking lot.
Actually, few in the crowd attending Thursday's event off Eugene O’Neill Drive could ever recall it happening.
But this project is different, according to Mayor Michael Passero, and the $1.5 million investment is aimed at not only improving parking for visitors but will better accommodate pedestrians and serve as an economic driver.
The stretch of road that passes the parking lots is known as the gateway to the city but “has always been sort of an open sore for the downtown,” Passero said.
"This has been a long time coming,” he said. “It shows the city is really moving ahead and putting our best face forward.”
Along with repaving the entire area and re-aligning the parking spaces, 201 spaces in all, Eugene O’Neill Drive was narrowed to accommodate wider sidewalks and bump outs from the sidewalks that provide quicker road crossings. It’s also designed to slow down traffic.
The design was completed by Mystic-based Kent + Frost Landscape Architecture and the work was completed by Colonna Concrete and Asphalt Paving of West Haven.
There are ornamental light poles and spaces for 42 trees to be planted in the spring. Passero said the City Center District will hang flowers on the poles to tie in the area to Bank and State streets. The areas with brick architectural features will host an undetermined public art component.
One of the major benefits will be a more welcoming atmosphere for visitors and fewer parking frustrations.
Instead of two-hour parking limits and the citations that follow violators, the city has installed parking pay stations or kiosks that charge 50 cents an hour for parking from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. Parking is free on weekends and during the evening hours.
The kiosks accept both coins and credit cards and offer a maximum 12-hour stay for $8. A parking ambassador can read plates with a handheld device and identify which cars are in violation. Parking was free before the improvements.
A phone application is being developed that will allow users to pay for extended stays by using their phone. The parking plan comes under the guidance of the city Parking Director Carey Redd.
Redd said a statistical analysis of parking habits led to the decision to install metered parking in the lots and eventually along Bank and State streets.
"Parking is a component of economic development," he said.
Redd said that while he expects parking revenues to grow, the real aim is to institute “good, sound parking policy.”
The city, Redd said, is making it easier to avoid parking fines so that a visitor will have a good experience and return to the city to visit its bars, restaurants and festivals.
Redd said he will continue to perform analytical studies on parking throughout the city and implement changes where needed until “after a period of time these are non-issues.”
In an apparent goodwill gesture, Redd said the Parking Authority will not be enforcing parking limits in the municipal parking lots or downtown streets near businesses during the holidays. It is a recognition of the fact that businesses were impacted during the several months of construction, he said. Unsafe or hazardous parking violations, such as parking in front of a fire hydrant, still will be enforced.
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