AMHERST – One of the most in-demand public parking lots in downtown Amherst, with a central location near shops, restaurants, the Jones Library and the Amherst Cinema, will close for four to six weeks beginning Monday.
Closing of the Amity Street parking lot is part of a $200,000 project to reconstruct and resurface it, install improved lighting and electrical equipment, and add new curbs and sidewalks.
A raised crosswalk allowing pedestrians to cross from the lot to the Jones Library will also be added as part of improvements to Amity Street.
Warner Brothers LLC of Sunderland is handling the parking lot project and will enclose the work area with a fence. The existing temporary crosswalk leading from the parking lot to the Jones Library will be inaccessible during the duration of the work.
Even with the lot closed, Jerry Guidera, interim executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, said there should still be sufficient parking, especially in the town spaces behind the CVS Pharmacy at 76 North Pleasant St.
“The CVS lot is a lot closer than people realize,” Guidera said.
He said he appreciates that the temporary crosswalk installed in 2006 on a trial basis, will be made safer.
But losing the spaces is a concern. A Pioneer Valley Planning Commission report in 2008 showed that the average utilization rate of the spaces in the parking lot was 90 percent during most of the day.
Library Director Sharon Sharry said she will encourage patrons to use the CVS lot.
“The town is developing a map which will show alternate parking spaces,” Sharry said. “We will have copies of the map here at the library.”
Geoff Kravitz, the town’s economic development director, is working with local businesses on the possible parking crunch, said Peter Hechenbleikner, interim town manager.
Hechenbleikner said there should be spaces available in the Boltwood parking garage.
The town decided to wait until after the University of Massachusetts commencement Friday to start the project.
In addition, during June, July and August, downtown spaces reserved for those with parking stickers can be used by anyone.
Meanwhile, the granite marker recognizing the parking lot as the former site of the Amherst Academy, where poet Emily Dickinson and Mount Holyoke College founder Mary Lyon were instructed, will not be disturbed during the work, and the plants and trees surrounding the lot will also remain in place.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
