WATERVILLE — With a construction fence being installed Thursday and Friday around the site of a Colby College residential complex at the northeast tip of The Concourse, the city’s parking study committee on Wednesday sought ways to identify immediate alternative parking spaces for those who use the 90 spaces to be lost there.
About 15 people turned out for the meeting, held in the council chamber. Members discussed the need for identifying areas in The Concourse that should remain available for all-day parking and those that should be only two-hour parking. They also cited the need for the two-hour parking limit to be enforced.
City Manager Michael Roy said the city has someone in mind who would work part time in parking enforcement, and Roy and police Chief Joseph Massey will talk about how that will work and how that position would be funded.
The parking study committee determined that the part of The Concourse in front of the mall housing The Villager restaurant and Yardgoods Center and the part of the lot behind KeyBank should be two-hour parking only. They said they think it important that areas in front of stores on the south side of The Concourse be two-hour and some other areas be used for long-term parking.
Currently, spaces on The Concourse that are for long-term parking are designated with stars painted on the spots, but the city plans to paint over some of the stars to indicate they no longer will be long-term.
The committee also noted that plenty of parking spaces are available at Head of Falls.
Meanwhile, the committee continues to identify new areas where parking may be developed, including the site of the former Elden Inn off Main Street. That city-owned site will need to be cleared of snow and graded, officials said. Roy said he would contact Hannaford to see if spaces at a Hannaford office lot on Elm Street would be available for public use; he said he also will contact the DePre family, which owns a lot behind their two buildings on Main Street next to the former Hains building.
Bruce Fowler, who manages buildings downtown for the Geller Trust, one of which is the professional building at 179 Main St., said he plans to buy a shuttle vehicle this weekend so he can drive employees who work in that building to and from Head of Falls, where they will park. He said the ideal place for them to park is at the north end of Head of Falls, close to Appleton Street, so those who might want to walk to their vehicles at lunchtime can do so. That area needs to be plowed, he said. Many of those workers have parked on The Concourse, where the Colby dormitory will be built.
The meeting Wednesday was the parking study committee’s third since it was formed. The first was held March 8.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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