Politics & Government

Business Owners Oppose Bank Street Lot, Meter Restrictions

Several Summit Avenue and Union Place business owners attended Tuesday's meeting.

Jen Hedrick and Angie Comiteau, co-owners of The Bar Method on Summit Avenue, were just two of several downtown business owners who voiced their concerns over proposed changes to the meter time and fees at the Bank Street parking lot and street meters.

The proposal, which council will have a public hearing for on May 18, is to begin charging a fee for on hour of parking in the Bank Street lot and at the meters along Bank Street. Currently the lot is two hour, free parking. Parking Services Manager Rita McNany is proposing a reduction from two hours to one hour in the lot and the fees are $.25 for 15 minutes, $.50 for 30 minutes and $1 an hour.

The driving force behind the change is two-fold: to begin a long-term plan to begin charging at all of the park and shop lots in Summit, and to begin with the lot most often abused by downtown employees, McNany said.

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But Hedrick and the other store owners said that while they have no problem with charging for parking, they feel the one hour time limit is not long enough for their customers to do their business downtown.

Christine Ku, co-owner and stylist at ZØKU Salon, said many customers come in for services that take well over an hour and often treat thesmselves to more than one service per visit.

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Dr. Jeffery Kahn of Summit Psychological Services expressed a similar sentiment, adding that many customers grab a bite to eat downtown or continue shopping after appointments.

"To change this would mean more difficulty with already limited parking," he said.

McNany reported last month that the cost to install the new signage and a payment machine with credit card capability is $25,000-$30,000. She also said funds are available in the 2008-2009 Capital Parking Lot Improvements fund to pay for the equipment and signage.

McNany estimates the city could see $54,000 in revenue annually from this change.

Councilwoman Ellen Dickson reiterated that this change is just the first step in a long-term strategy to hopefully eventually charge for parking at all the shopper lots.

"We have a parking problem in Summit," she said. "We are trying to address it in steps."


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