AMHERST — Consultants examining downtown parking are recommending extending enforcement until 8 p.m. for all spaces and using a graduated pricing scheme in which the cost of using a space would go up the longer one stays. However, it’s uncertain if the Town Council will be receptive to these concepts.
At its meeting Monday, District 1 Councilor Cathy Schoen said visitors might be less likely to come to downtown for a dinner and movie if parking prices go up and people have to feed meters until 8 p.m.
“Why not 6?” Schoen said, suggesting that be the uniform time for when enforcement ends.
Matt Smith, a principal at NelsonNygaard Consulting Associates of Boston, said the focus of its report is to increase the available spaces, deter meter-feeding by employees and manage peak demand, though he noted that the 8 p.m. enforcement time could cause Amherst to be out of sync with how parking is handled in neighboring places, including Northampton.
Jason Novsam, an associate at NelsonNygaard, said the intent is not to deter or penalize people but to give them better options. “Our goal with this is for people to stay longer,” Novsam said.
The recommendation for extended enforcement, coupled with eliminating time limits and using graduated pricing, stems from fact that peak usage is determined to be around 7 p.m. “We feel that is your best bet to manage that peak demand,” Novsam said.
Monday marked the first presentation of the parking recommendations to the Town Council, which could act on some or all of the ideas in the coming weeks.
“Tonight is just the beginning of our conversation,” said Council President Lynn Griesemer. She added that district meetings will likely be used to discuss the topic.
Christine Gray-Mullen, chairwoman of the Downtown Parking Working Group, said the parking implementation strategy report offers advice for making a more flexible and efficient parking system. Priority recommendations will come from the working group at some point in the near future.
The last changes to parking were implemented in November 2017, including allowing drivers to park longer in some areas and to pay more for premium spots and less for lower demand spaces.
Geoff Kravitz, Amherst’s economic development director, said he has two takeaways from the report. First, Amherst could have a better parking system. Second, parking is complex.
At-Large Councilor Alisa Brewer questioned a recommendation in the report to have a dedicated staff member hired to oversee parking, with concern about whether Amherst would have the money to fund it.
Smith said a full-time leader would give clarity about the town’s parking management structure, including who is in charge of the system and how changes are undertaken. “It will allow a better chance for many of these strategies to be implemented,” Smith said.
Other recommendations include formalizing grace periods; having a year-round, rather than school-year, permit parking system; and improving signs.
“Your signage does need help — it needs to be a lot more visible,” Smith said.
Two councilors wondered if adding more parking through parking structures, which is not a priority recommendation, might benefit the town.
District 4 Councilor Stephen Schreiber said if the council has aspirations to meet the goals of the master plan — which recommends so-called in-fill development in downtown in which vacant lots are developed — then a new garage might be a commonsense approach.
District 5 Councilor Shalini Bahl-Milne said she appreciates that the consultants are moving away from “more parking” as a philosophy, but noted that there would be improved prospects of development with increased parking.
The consultants said the town could add 10 to 12 spaces at the Boltwood parking garage — by removing an underused plaza that was incorporated into the design — and get many more public spaces by re-striping existing spots.
Gabrielle Gould, executive director of the Amherst Business Improvement District, said the parking perception issue Amherst battles is not addressed in the recommendations, and that the report also doesn’t take into account other future projects, such as expansion of the Jones Library, adding new screens at the Amherst Cinema and building a band shell on the Town Common, where more regular concerts and performances would be held.
“We feel a parking garage is a strong solution to the issue,” Gould said, noting that her organization is setting the stage for possible management of a new structure.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
