By TIFFANY RAZZANO
The results of the study done by Howard Patrick Barry, of Washington, D.C.'s Barry Associates, showed that by redirecting the traffic flow and redesigning the lot, the village could yield approximately 100 spots in those two lots alone, Cohn said. Barry estimated that if all lots in the village were reassessed, perhaps as many as 500 new spots could be found. "The question was, how do we develop more space?" Cohn said. "The roadways in these lots are almost double the size of what they should be. It's so obvious." The study found that the parking spots in those lots were inconsistent in size, many of them not complying with the village Zoning Code, he said. This independent study comes at a perfect time too, he said, since the lots are slated to be repaved and painted this summer.
Parking has always been a sore subject in the village, especially since last fall, when Police Commissioner Jack McKeon implemented a pilot parking program in an attempt to control the issue. McKeon decided to combine all resident and employee lots, turning them into long-term lots that accommodate both parking permits. This has angered many business owners and workers in the village who say they can no longer easily find parking near where they work. Michael Shenker, president of the Chamber of Commerce, called the change "a disservice" to businesses in the village.
"I think it did nothing except cause aggravation and create less shopper parking and the reason to do it in the first place was to create more shopper parking," said Ed Oppenheimer, chairman of the Parking Committee.
The pilot program, which officially began Oct. 9, was slated to be a six month program. However, April came and no changes or announcements were made. At the time, McKeon said he thought the program was working well and said no changes would be made in the spring because with village elections just two months away, it would be deemed a political move.
When the parking study commissioned by Cohn was introduced at a May board meeting, Michael Schussheim, acting village administrator, suggested a meeting with Steve Kritsas, village engineer, saying it was possible that Barry's sketches did not comply with the code.
Kritsas has since met with Cohn, but did not return calls to the Herald. A high-ranking village employee, who is close to the situation and spoke off the record, said that Kritsas told him the spots in the study did not comply with certain elements of the Code.
Cohn shrugs this off, saying it might need just a little bit of tweaking, but his study is only a starting point, and just shows how easy it would be to create new parking spots in the village. He also said that the study was based on drawings made by Kritsas specifically for the project.
"The study is being reviewed by the village engineer," said another village official who also wished to remain anonymous. "The village engineer has reached out to the consultant in an attempt to analyze and understand the proposal. The village engineer is very interested in working with this consultant to determine whether there's a possibility that additional parking space may be added to that lot."
He added, "The village is interested in what the consultant has to say, however achieving 500 additional spaces in the village seems to be excessive." He also stressed that parking is not a political issue. "I don't believe it's a political, but is a proposal made without concern for politics and the assessment of the impact is being performed without any political interference."
For now, Cohn is reaching out to village officials, inviting them to see the renderings for themselves, as he works with Kritsas. However, he says not many have taken him up on his offer.
Shenker wholeheartedly supports the study, as well as the possibility of having all lots re-evaluated. "It's a no-brainer," he said. "All I'm looking for is more parking for the village, for commuters, employees and residents."
Oppenheimer agrees. "It's things like this that need to be done," he said. "The shifting around of long-term parking and tinkering with who parks where is not going to solve the problem and, in many ways, just adding more spots may not necessarily solve the problem if they're not going to allocate them correctly." He added, "The village has to do something to create more parking. But having looked at redesign and parking garages in other areas, it's much less expensive and less intrusive and a lot quicker to reconfigure parking lots and traffic flow in the village lots, keeping them on one level, than it would be to build multi-level parking."
Comments on this story? TRazzano@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000, ext. 221.
