SKANEATELES - When the weather is nice, convenient parking in the lakeside village of Skaneateles is nearly impossible to find.
Angela Kershner / The Citizen
Angela Kershner / The Citizen Village trustee and chair of the parking committee Alan Dolmatch points out the future location of a new retaining wall that will extend the parking lot by several feet, making it possible to create four rows of perpendicular parking in the Skaneateles municipal parking lot.
Angela Kershner / The Citizen Village trustee and chair of the parking committee Alan Dolmatch points out the future location of a new retaining wall that will extend the parking lot by several feet, making it possible to create four rows of perpendicular parking in the Skaneateles municipal parking lot.
To the chagrin of village merchants, current parking rules have allowed “too many people to hog (spots) all day,” said Alan Dolmatch, a village trustee who helped oversee a two-year review of village parking.
As a result of the recommendations from Dolmatch and the village parking committee, the village has installed meters which charge 25 cents for each half-hour, including Sundays between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. The village's parking revenues are already up because of the increase in meter rates and the installation of new and reliable meters.
Renovations and changes in the central municipal parking lot are the next step, which are expected to come to a vote by the five-member Skaneateles Village Board Monday night.
The parking committee examined ways to expand the village's parking options, particularly to meet the needs
of its business community. It examined the village's on-street parking, alternative, farther-out parking for those willing to walk 10 minutes and the layout of the central municipal parking lot that runs behind Jordan Street and that can be entered through drives from Genesee Street, Jordan Street or State Street.
Village officials hope to see the work completed by Memorial Day weekend. All the work will be completed by village Department of Works employees. Some spaces in the lot will be open during the May work period except for a couple of days.
The north end of the lot will be restriped from diagonal parking spaces to perpendicular parking spaces to meet the American Parking Association's recommended standard of parking spaces measuring nine feet by 20 feet and to meet the demands of larger vehicles.
It will be designed to accommodate all-day parking, particularly for merchants in the village or for residents who carpool on a work commute to Syracuse.
Parking pay stations, similar to the city of Syracuse's pay stations, will be installed. Drivers will pay for the time allotted at the stations, get a receipt for what they pay and place the receipt on the dashboards of their cars.
The first 15 minutes are for free, and each half hour costs 25 cents. Once drivers hit a $2 ceiling, they have paid for all-day parking for their vehicles in the lot. Monthly parking passes also will be sold at the police station.
The south end of the lot will stay the same pending a decision by the owner of a nearby business over the lease the village has of some of his property to use for the parking lot. That part of the lot accommodates two-hour parking. All the money collected from the pay stations and on-street parking meters will go into the village's parking fund, which will be used to benefit downtown, Dolmatch said.
Initially, the parking fund will be used to reimburse the $100,000 budgeted for the parking lot improvements through budget anticipatory notes.
Future uses of parking funds might be payments for “fun trolleys” that could shuttle visitors from outlying parking lots into the village, to buy land for more parking lots or buy easements to improve the flow of parking in the village.
In case the parking lot is full, signs will be installed that will direct motorists to alternate free lots that are only a five- to 10-minute walk from downtown. Those will include school parking lots on Elizabeth Street that are vacant during the summer months and include the lot at the Allyn Arena on Jordan Street.
Because customer traffic drops after the Christmas season, parking fees will be suspended Jan. 1 through March 31.
After the parking lot is finished, the parking committee's remaining goal involves the fun trolley concept and potentially more outlying lots. Once the Skaneateles Fire Department moves to its new location in the summer of 2007, discussions about the old fire station could include development of additional parking, Dolmatch said.
Dolmatch expects Local Law No. 2 of 2006, which will authorize the parking lot changes, to pass at the 7 p.m. meeting.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
As a result of the recommendations from Dolmatch and the village parking committee, the village has installed meters which charge 25 cents for each half-hour, including Sundays between 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. The village's parking revenues are already up because of the increase in meter rates and the installation of new and reliable meters.
Renovations and changes in the central municipal parking lot are the next step, which are expected to come to a vote by the five-member Skaneateles Village Board Monday night.
The parking committee examined ways to expand the village's parking options, particularly to meet the needs
of its business community. It examined the village's on-street parking, alternative, farther-out parking for those willing to walk 10 minutes and the layout of the central municipal parking lot that runs behind Jordan Street and that can be entered through drives from Genesee Street, Jordan Street or State Street.
Village officials hope to see the work completed by Memorial Day weekend. All the work will be completed by village Department of Works employees. Some spaces in the lot will be open during the May work period except for a couple of days.
The north end of the lot will be restriped from diagonal parking spaces to perpendicular parking spaces to meet the American Parking Association's recommended standard of parking spaces measuring nine feet by 20 feet and to meet the demands of larger vehicles.
It will be designed to accommodate all-day parking, particularly for merchants in the village or for residents who carpool on a work commute to Syracuse.
Parking pay stations, similar to the city of Syracuse's pay stations, will be installed. Drivers will pay for the time allotted at the stations, get a receipt for what they pay and place the receipt on the dashboards of their cars.
The first 15 minutes are for free, and each half hour costs 25 cents. Once drivers hit a $2 ceiling, they have paid for all-day parking for their vehicles in the lot. Monthly parking passes also will be sold at the police station.
The south end of the lot will stay the same pending a decision by the owner of a nearby business over the lease the village has of some of his property to use for the parking lot. That part of the lot accommodates two-hour parking. All the money collected from the pay stations and on-street parking meters will go into the village's parking fund, which will be used to benefit downtown, Dolmatch said.
Initially, the parking fund will be used to reimburse the $100,000 budgeted for the parking lot improvements through budget anticipatory notes.
Future uses of parking funds might be payments for “fun trolleys” that could shuttle visitors from outlying parking lots into the village, to buy land for more parking lots or buy easements to improve the flow of parking in the village.
In case the parking lot is full, signs will be installed that will direct motorists to alternate free lots that are only a five- to 10-minute walk from downtown. Those will include school parking lots on Elizabeth Street that are vacant during the summer months and include the lot at the Allyn Arena on Jordan Street.
Because customer traffic drops after the Christmas season, parking fees will be suspended Jan. 1 through March 31.
After the parking lot is finished, the parking committee's remaining goal involves the fun trolley concept and potentially more outlying lots. Once the Skaneateles Fire Department moves to its new location in the summer of 2007, discussions about the old fire station could include development of additional parking, Dolmatch said.
Dolmatch expects Local Law No. 2 of 2006, which will authorize the parking lot changes, to pass at the 7 p.m. meeting.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
