Southern Curb Design
MANCHESTER – The Manchester Select Board will host a meeting at Al Ducci's Italian Pantry at 5 p.m. Wednesday to discuss a plan, for which the Select Board has budgeted $100,000, to discuss the reconstruction of the municipal parking lot at the intersection of Elm Street and Highland Avenue.
Town Manager John O'Keefe said the problems with the parking lot were longstanding. The spot was once the site of a movie theater that burned down and the parking lot was built on top of it.
"We've had a parking lot there for God knows how long. I don't know how (the town) got control of it, but we finally decided to rebuild it. The parking lot has had a lot of settling. I don't mean settling like a couple of inches, I mean in some areas possibly up to a foot. You can almost see where the outline of the old building was," he said.
To reconstruct it, crews will probably have to take off the top layer of paving, dig out some of the material underneath, put more stable and sturdy material back in and crush it down, O'Keefe said.
On Town Meeting Day, voters authorized the town to bond for up to about $2.8 million for three projects on Highland Avenue and its surrounding area to reconstruct sewer lines, improve and replace water lines, and enhance drainage.
The $100,000 for the parking lot was one of the items included in the bond for drainage improvements.
With those approvals in place, O'Keefe said he hopes to move forward with the Highland Avenue projects this summer. The municipal parking lot is expected to serve as a "staging area" for those projects so the parking lot project will not happen until after it has been through that wear and tear.
"This is pretty typical that you use public parking lots for staging for projects, pretty much beat 'em up pretty good. There's going to be a lot of heavy materials sitting on the site, there's probably going to be some fencing around it to protect the public. Afterwards, we're going to go and remediate the parking lot, fix it back up again," he said.
That's one of the reasons the town is looking for input from the public. Because the parking lot construction will likely create limited access this summer, town officials want to know when local business owners want the parking lot work to happen. Some may want the work all compressed into this year; others may prefer to wait for one of the slower seasons.
The town already has some ideas for the lot such as reducing the number of curb cuts to two from what is now just one big lot-long entrance and exit, historic lighting fixtures and a design element to make it look it more attractive. But the meeting is expected to provide some guidance.
"(We want to) present the idea to the public, get their comments. Offer them a couple different scenarios on the diagonal parking and see what they think. Just get their general thoughts and concerns, lay out the construction schedule to date," O'Keefe said.
Town officials are making sure the parking lot meets the guidelines that would be expected for any business or private owner.
In addition to members of the Select Board, the town will be represented by Manchester Town Manager John O'Keefe, Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lee Krohn and Department of Public Works Director Jeff Williams. Roger Ward, the engineer who is working on the proposal, is expected to attend as well.
O'Keefe said he wanted residents to know that the project does not need to go before the town's Development Review Board for approvals because it will be on municipal-owned land and doesn't change its use. Therefore, he pointed out, the meeting on Wednesday is the best opportunity for residents and local business owners to share their concerns.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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