Council Hears Plan For Parking Garage

Parking Director Tom Hartley presented his plan to use the Melilli Parking Plaza as the site for a new, multi-story parking garage to a receptive Common Council last night. The occasion was a Council workshop to learn more about why Hartley wanted to scrap the 2008 plan to put a parking garage at the site of the current parking arcade between the courthouse and Riverview Plaza.

Hartley repeated much of the presentation he gave to the Economic Development Committee in August. This time his presentation included a 13 slide Power Point presentation with data comparing the requirement for parking at Mellili Plaza and the requirement for parking at the arcade near Riverview. Hartley claimed that since there is less retail space near Riverview than near Melilli, "The arcade has less of a need generator than the Melilli lot." Moreover, he said that far fewer spaces would be lost, and for a shorter time, during the construction of a parking garage at Melilli than there would be during the construction of a similar structure at the arcade site.

Hartley estimated that repair and maintenance of the Riverview arcade during the next five years would require payment of about $100,000 per year. He said this could be funded by the revenue from parking at the arcade.

Rate Changes

The rates charged for parking in Middletown have remained unchanged since 1984, and have some features which the Council members found surprising. For example, the most desirable parking, on Main Street, is cheaper than the more distant, off-street parking in Melilli Plaza. Hartley proposed to redress this imbalance, by reducing the cost of parking off-street from $1.00 per hour to $0.75 per hour, and by increasing the cost of parking on Main Street from $0.50 per hour to $1.00 per hour.

Public Comments

A dozen members of the public spoke during a special public comment section of the workshop. Most were owners of businesses near Melilli Plaza or further north, they all supported the proposal to put the parking garage in the Melilli Plaza.

Others expressed reservations. Michael Arafeh said that construction of the parking garage would likely impact his business, The Coffeehouse Recording Studio, and Melissa Schilke expressed concern over the height of any parking garage in the Melilli Plaza. David Sauer questioned the assumptions and the numbers underlying Hartley's presentation, and expressed his frustration that the city had not moved forward with the original plan, and was instead now considering moving the proposed garage to Melilli.

Catherine Johnson, architect and town planner, spoke at length to the Council, reiterating what she wrote in a commentary in The Eye.

Johnson said she has been very actively following the parking situation in Middletown for quite some time, "Quite honestly, I may be the only person who understands the complete ramifications of parking." She expressed her support for moving the parking garage to Mellili Plaza, but voiced concerns over where the parking garage would be put within the Plaza.

Johnson said that it would be wrong to place a parking garage on the Washington Street edge of Melilli Plaza, "Washington Street is one of the most important streets in the city ... You do not front your most important street with a [car] storage space."

Hartley was hesitant to endorse any design or even location for the garage. He said that the design should be done in close consultation with many different people, "In no way should your Parking Director design the garage by himself."

Council to Vote on Monday

The Council will vote at their next meeting on a resolution authorizing the expenditure of $120,000 for the preliminary design of a Parking Garage at Melilli Plaza.

Change for Parking

Meeting Notice:

Presentation of Parking Improvements and Rate Changes
Wednesday, August 25th
• 8 am at 330 Main (2nd floor, over Javapalooza)
• 5 pm at 330 Main (2nd food, over Javapalooza)

Parking Director Tom Hartley will outline proposed improvements and changes in the parking rules and rates for downtown at two public meetings on Wednesday, August 25th. All members of the public are welcome to come to the presentation and share their questions and concerns. The final decisions on these proposals will be made by the Common Council at their upcoming meetings.

As readers of the Eye know, Tom Hartley was appointed as the City's new Parking Director last March. The creation of a new parking department with professional leadership was one of the key recommendations of the Parking Study, primarily because of concerns that the resources were not being managed to Middletown's advantage. In his short tenure, Hartley has focused on improving collection and billing systems (with a solid rise in revenues as a result) and in testing new parking technology for Main Street meters. Over the summer, Hartley worked with the Parking Committee (of which I am a member) to develop a plan to upgrade the quality of parking in town and balance the supply and demand, including a pricing system that will pay for improvements and help us develop new parking as needed.

At the outset, I'd like to say that the current parking system is not helping business growth in Middletown -- for decades, the City has deferred maintenance on signage, paving, meters and other collection systems, and just about every aspect of parking. The downtown business community and city government both recognize that a poor parking system is depressing property values downtown, and affecting the kinds of business owners that will locate here. And hopefully every Middletown taxpayer knows that increasing downtown property values is the key to stabilizing taxes for homeowners; the more downtown is worth, the greater share it can pay of the costs of running this city.

I'd encourage anyone with a strong interest in this subject to attend one of the meetings, but I'll attempt a summary of the presentation for those who can't make it.

Improvements

The improvements that are proposed would bring Middletown's parking up to the basic standard that most cities offer.

•Upgrade the meters for each parking space on Main and the side streets. This includes a meter that would take both coins and credit cards, and a sensor which would tell the attendant that a meter has expired or turned over.
•Upgrade each parking lot so that it has adequate lighting and signage, including safety features like call boxes and cameras. In a few cases, re-paving is needed.
•Install gates or multi-space collection kiosks in parking lots, depending on how that lot is used.

Rate Changes

Before we address the issue of raising the funds to pay for those improvements, Middletown has to solve the problem of our out-of-whack pricing for parking. Everyone, of course, wants to find a space on Main Street. But those spaces don't turn over frequently and are often filled with employees -- that's because our pricing encourages people to park on Main. In fact, it currently it costs less to take up a Main Street space all day (moving your car every two hours, as many do) than it does to park in one of the off-street lots. Our highest demand spaces have our lowest prices -- oops!

•Flip the prices of on-street and off-street parking. In other words, raise the Main Street price by 50 cents/hour, and lower the Melilli price by 50 cents/hour. In terms of cost or revenue, this is pretty much a wash, with a net gain of 34 spaces that will have a higher rate than they do now.

In addition to the need for better balance in the pricing system, the rates would also face an increase to pay for the proposed improvements. The following increase would allow us to fully pay for all the proposed improvements over a five year period.

•increase rates in off-street lots by 25 cents/hour. For example, Main Street would cost $1/hour and off-street lots would cost 75 cents/hour.
•reduce free parking in off-street lots from 2 hours to 1 hour.
•permits for monthly parkers would be available in the Riverview Arcade for $75/month for long-term parkers - or roughly half the cost of parking in a metered space all day.
•those who wish to purchase a "vanity space" with their name on a sign that reserves the space for workday hours would pay the full value of that space, at $150/month.

Also, to help downtown employees cope with higher parking costs:

•through their employer, allow downtown employees who make less than $15/hour to purchase $3/shift parking passes.
•through their employer, set up a program that helps employees pay for parking with pre-tax income, as allowed.

The good news is that on average, the proposed increase is only 25 cents/hour; the bad news is that our current system is so convoluted that some spaces will have to go up more in price while some go down. That may create some "parker rage" in the short term, as people get used to the new system.

Future Parking

Hartley's presentation will also address the issue of where Middletown needs to add parking in coming years. One option under consideration would be to repair the existing Riverview Arcade and keep it in use until more parking can be developed by constructing a multi-story, mixed-use parking garage on the Washington Street side of Melilli Plaza. The cost of the Arcade repairs would be paid through the increased income in that lot.

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Increasing the cost of parking to customers and people who work downtown is not a step to take lightly - and that's why these public meetings are an important opportunity for us all to discuss the impact of both improvements and cost increases. Please join the debate.

Eye'M Sorry to Say...

...that none of the intrepid volunteer reporters for the EYE were available at 7 pm last night as the Board of Ed met at Middletown High, so unfortunately we won't have a full report for you.

I was able to make the "after party" in the parking lot though, as members headed to their cars at 8:30. Board chair Ted Raczka shared that the meeting was one of their shortest ever, and that among the highlights were two big pieces of news:

1. Middletown High graduation has been set for June 21st.

2. The Board confirmed a new principal for Woodrow Wilson Middle School (perhaps someone will give us the name in the comments section!)

Instead of attending the Board of Ed, I went to the Parking Department meeting at 7 pm, where the new Parking Director Tom Hartley filled us in on his proposal to test a new kind of parking meter on Main Street in the coming months. The single-space meters would take credit cards as well as coins, so that downtown shoppers would have more flexibility in paying for parking. Also, the level of data collected by the meters would help us understand the parking patterns on Main Street. Director Hartley has negotiated a 3-month trial of the meters without cost to the city, beyond the new expenses of processing credit card payments. At this point, the plan is to have the temporary meters installed on the East side of Main between Court and Washington from mid-May to mid-August, allowing us to analyze whether they would improve parking collections and satisfaction.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, I was at the Redevelopment Agency meeting, which clocked in at about 10 minutes in length -- we are working on a number of projects, but none required decisions on our part. In brief, we learned that the North End Home Ownership project has a slight change of plans: the historic yellow house on Ferry Street which was to undergo rehab will now quite likely be demolished and replicated, due to rot. The developers of the project, Nehemiah and Broad Park, have been working with the local preservation society on this.

Also at Redevelopment, we got an update on the ongoing assessment of brownfields in the City, with an eye toward identifying properties that would be suitable for redevelopment, if grant funds and private interest allow. The consultants, VHB, will be operating some public sessions in the coming months to get feedback on what sites should receive priority treatment in this effort.

And while we're on the subjects of meetings, consider this our annual pledge drive to recruit new writers for the Middletown Eye. There are lots of meetings that happen in town without any press coverage, or even any members of the public attending, though they are open. If you'd be interested in attending city meetings on topics that interest you, and then writing a summary for the EYE, then consider yourself hired. Just drop us a comment and we'll set you up!

Got Your Parking Bill?

I'm not saying who, but someone I know recently got a letter in the mail from the new Parking Department. It contained a "friendly" reminder that a parking ticket -- the standard $15 fine for failure to feed the meter -- was long past due and had now doubled to $30.

It seems that the new Parking Director, on the job less than 2 weeks, has already figured out how to wrestle a billing out of the notoriously cranky computer system - a task which has been done only rarely in the past few years. There were $55,000 in outstanding parking fines that were notified in this billing cycle, and some perpetrators have wracked up hundreds of dollars in fines (they might want to pay those before they try to renew their car registration). Considering that parking revenue for the entire year is expected to be in the $650,000 range (including all meters, monthly permits and fines), this is a significant chunk of change.

As I attended Tuesday's meeting of the new Parking Department*, it was apparent that Parking Director Tom Hartley brings plenty of parking savvy and business smarts to the job. In addition to new monthly billings, I expect that many of the issues that were raised during Middletown's Parking Study will soon be addressed. Do people frequently find ways to avoid paying for daily parking? Do stores have trouble ensuring that their customers will find spaces? Do our prices even make sense, or is it cheaper to lounge in a Main Street space all day than to park and walk a block? Mr. Hartley is already hard at work to the answers to these and other questions.

Just thought I should warn you.




*Full Disclosure: I'm a commissioner for the Parking Department.

First Meeting of Parking Committee

On Tuesday night, the committee which will oversee the new Parking Department met to discuss organizational business.

The department was created by the Common Council last Spring in response to the 15-month Parking Study. That study found that although downtown needs some additional parking spots, much of the shortage and other issues could be resolved by changing the way parking is managed. The city is currently undergoing a search for a director to head the new department, with an application deadline of October 23rd (click here for the job description). In the meantime, downtown parking will continue to be managed under the Records section of the Police Department.

The committee agreed on the following items:
•meetings will be held on the third Tuesday evening of every month at 7 pm in City Hall (room to be determined)
•the chair of the committee is Welles Guilmartin, and the vice chair is Peter Harding

The committee, which was appointed by the Mayor, includes two common council members (Tom Serra, Joe Bibisi) and five people who live, work or own property in the downtown parking area (Welles Guilmartin, Marie Kalita-Leary, Marc Levine, Peter Harding and myself).


Full Disclosure: I'm a member of the Parking Committee.

Council Votes to Create Parking Department and to Sell Cucia Park

At a special meeting Monday evening the Common Council voted to affirm their intention to create an independent parking department in Middletown. The city, which had a parking authority more than a decade ago, and since then has placed authority for parking matters in the Police Department, will now have a parking commission, a parking department and a professional parking manager. An interesting note, in debate Mayor Sebastian Giuliano made it clear that the parking department did not have jurisdiction over on-street parking, but only for parking lots and off-street muncipal parking.

After impassioned testimony by Stephen Devoto (full disclosure: Devoto is a Middletown Eye correspondent but spoke as a public citizen and not as a citizen journalist), a member of the mayor's task force which identified Cucia Park as the best site for the Army Reserve Training Center, the Common Council spent nearly an hour defending their decision to purchase the park, and disburse the bulk of the funds from the purchase toward operating expenses in the budget for the coming year.

Devoto, who has supported the sale of the park for the Army Reserve Training Center displayed a sense of betrayal and disbelief at the current council resolution.

Devoto made three main points, and forcefully so.

He claimed that the resolution's definition of Cucia Park as a 4.4 acre park, and between 36 and 40 acres of "adjoining land," was not the same description offered when the park was first floated as a potential site for the Army training center.

"The current draft of the Plan of Conservation and Development shows Cucia Park, all of it, all 40.4 acres, as 'permanent open space," Devoto said. "For you to claim that the city is selling a 4 acre park and 'adjoing land' is disingenuous."

Council members countered that the language used in the resolution is the same language proposed in the original definition of the "Cucia Park" found in a resolution urging the sale of Cucia Park, and the funding of the city purchase of a parcel of land in a proposed industrial park owned by Ted Bysiewicz.

"I'd say with that resolution we were playing chess with the Army, and we won," Council member Thomas Serra said.

Council member Vinnie Loffredo, in questions to City Planner Bill Warner characterized the property as always destined for industrial development. Warner ran through a chronology of the park, indicating that it had been originally purchased to use as a reservoir, then designated for industrial development before being noted as open space on city documents sometime in the eighties.

"Then this would all have been underwater?" Loffredo asked.

Warner said that unlike other open space owned by the city, Cucia Park is the single exception which has no restrictions against development.

A second point made by Devoto is that the current resolution runs counter to a resolution introduced by Serra and passed by the Council in October.

That resolution pledged that "Monies sufficient to replace the park and open space land as a result of such sale would be place in a special City Account for the purchase of park or open space land."

"Your budget has already spent at least 75% of the money from the sale," Devoto said. "Even if the city realizes $2 million, you have clearly violated your own resolution, because you will have absolutely no way of putting monies sufficient to replace park and open space."

Devoto's accusations seemed to have struck a nerve as several council members spent the next hour defending the history of the council in purchasing open space. Council members Roberts, Daley, Santangelo and Serra indicated that the history of the Council in pursuing open space purchases in the past was somehow a justification for turning their backs on a resolution passed as recently as October. Warner noted that the city has purchased a total of 3,000 acres of open space, with all purchases coming before the Council.

After the meeting, Councilman Ron Klattenberg noted that he never expected all the funds from the purchase to be used for open space.

"I never expected it to be acre for acre," Klattenberg explained.

"It's why I changed the wording of the resoution to read 'monies sufficient to replace the park," Council member Gerry Daley explained. He noted that while the Council initially hoped to receive far more than the $2 million offered by the Army, he added moderating language to be clear that all revenue would not go toward the purchase of park and open space land.

In the same conversation, Serra admitted that things had changed since the October resolution was made. He indicated that the economic pressures exerted on the city made it clear that money from the purchase needed to be applied to upcoming operating expenses.

"Remember, it means a zero increase in taxes," Serra said.

Mayor Sebastian Giuliano has never been an advocate of using the Cucia Park proceeds for open space purchases. In preliminary meetings last year he indicated that the revenue would be better used to replenish the general fund. More recently, in a compromise budget proposal, he, and the Republican caucus proposed using all revenue ($2 million) to offset expenses projected in the coming year. The difference between the Democratic and Republican line of reasoning on revenue and the budget is that from the Mayor's perspective, even with the use of the Cucia Park proceeds, anticipated expenses would demand a tax increase. The Democratic budget, which was passed by the Council includes the use of $1.5 million in Cucia proceeeds toward operating expenses, and not increase in taxes.

Devoto's third point was this idea of using revenue for the sale for operating expenses.

"It is the height of fiscal irresponsibility for any entity to sell its assets to fund operating expenses," Devoto said. He likened it to a family selling the family's living room carpets to pay for unexpected dental expenses, and then wondering what they might sell for other unexpected expenses.

'Maybe Mr. Devoto doesn't know it," Daley said later in the meeting. "But there are probably people in Middletown who are doing that. Let us not be bullied into thinking that we were disingenuous about our disposition of open space."

Mayor Sebastian Giuliano indicated that the new resolution would trump the language and intent of the original resolution, and that the council would not have to make a direct effort to rescind the original resolution indicating a set-aside of Cucia Park proceeds.

The resolution to give the mayor authority to sell Cucia Park to the Army passed unanimously.

Park Sale and Parking Department at Special Meeting of Common Council Tonight

The Common Council has scheduled a special meeting for tonight, to consider several ordinances relating to a new Parking Department, and to vote on whether to authorize the Mayor to sign an agreement with the U.S. Army for the sale of Cucia Park.

Parking
The Common Council voted on April 6 to move the job of parking management and enforcement from the Police Department to a new Parking Department. The new department will be in charge of studying the best parking arrangements for Middletown, especially for the downtown district. By city charter, the Council has to hold a second vote within 90 days of the April 6 vote, 90 days will have elapsed prior to the next regularly scheduled Council meeting, in July.

Selling Cucia Park
The U.S. Army has offered the City $2M for the sale of Cucia Park, where the Army plans to build a training facility for Reservists and National Guard. By city charter, the sale of city owned property must be approved by Common Council. In this case, the city is selling over 40 acres of land designated on city maps as "Permanently Protected Open Space".

The Common Council resolved in October, in Resolution 10-12, "...monies suffient to replace the park and open space land as a result of such sale would be placed in a special City Account for the purchase of park and/or open space land." The Democratic majority on the Council voted in April to use most of the money ($1.5M) instead to cover increases in city operating expenses, and in their press release stated that they would use the remaining to "replenish the General Fund".

Cucia Park is described in the Middletown Trail Guide as "conducive to birding, hiking, fishing, and picknicking, with biking along the abandoned railroad." The trail guide notes that the Park and Recreation Department maintains the grassy area surrounding the pond, and includes the map of Cucia park reproduced below.

Parking Department Clears First Hurdle

The Common Council voted Monday in a super majority to institute a separate parking department for the City of Middletown. The new department was the topic of five resolutions, all of which passed in votes of 10-2.

The new authority will manage all municipal parking in the city.

Parking study member Jennifer Alexander explained that the revenue raised by streamlining and improving parking downtown will offset any costs for the new department.

Because this is the creation of a new city department, the Common Council must vote a second time within 90 days, with a super majority (9 council votes), to institute the new Parking Authority.

Finance committee approves parking department

Wednesday evening the Finance and Government Operations Committee took action on several budgetary items. They approved several routine requests for fund transfers, approved the acceptance of Rockfall Foundation grants to support a walking trail and a farmers market study, and forwarded their unanimous approval of a new City Department of Parking to the Common Council.

The Finance and Government Operations Committee consists of five members of Common Council: Joe Bibisi, Gerald Daley, Hope Kasper, Ron Klattenberg, and Phil Pessina. Ron Klattenberg chairs the committee, which meets on the Wednesday prior to the monthly Common Council meetings. They are responsible for the initial approval of budgetary matters, their approval sends an issue to the full Common Council for final approval.

Parking Department
Business owners and shoppers alike, frustrated with the parking situation in downtown Middletown, have urged the city to create a coherent parking plan. A major study, completed in August, 2008 (and available HERE), proposed:

Another important immediate action item is to pursue the creation of an autonomous, financially self-sustaining Parking Department, which will provide consistency in parking strategies, enforcement, and facility maintenance. Any surplus revenue collected by the Parking Department should be directed to downtown parking infrastructure maintenance and improvement.

The Parking Study further recommended that the Parking Department implement detailed monitoring of parking demand, to optimise the parking available for businesses and shoppers in the downtown areas.

The two major initial costs for this Department, which the F&G committee spent some time considering, are the salary of the director and the cost of office space. The F&G felt that if space was available, the Parking Department should be in the Police Department, to synergize with the functions there. However, all of the F&G members present agreed that the creation of a Parking Department was so important that it should not be delayed over a decision on office space. The proposal for a Parking Department was sent to the Common Council with unanimous approval.

Grants to plan for a Middletown Farmers Market, and to prepare a Middletown Walking Guide
The Rockfall Foundation awarded the city $2500 to initiate and sponsor a series of four planning sessions (charrettes) to bring farmers, land-use commissioners, city officials and members of the public together to establish a successful and sustainable farmers market. They also granted $1900 for a Middletown Walking Guide which would be published on-line. The F&G unanimously approved the acceptance of those funds.

Funds to attend fair housing conference denied.
Faith Jackson, director of Human Relations, submitted a request for $60 to attend a one-day conference in Cromwell, entitled "The Future of Fair Housing in America", sponsored by the Fair Housing Association of CT. This request was denied, with Hope Kasper and Phil Pessina voting 'naye', and Joe Bibisi and Ron Klattenberg voting 'yes'. Kasper and Pessina both emphasized that the denial was strictly a matter of fairness--the F&G Committee had this year denied numerous similar requests from city employees for conference fees, and they did not want to set a precedent for a new policy. Jackson indicated that the conference was of such importance to her job that she would be attending it even without reimbursement from the City.

Westfield Fire Station Roof
Russ Andrews, of the Westfield Fire Department, requested that the city request $80,00o from the state through the Local Capital Improvement Plan (LOCIP), to pay for half of the cost of a roofing replacement and improvement. This replacement roof will have a PVC white cover, and will be considered a "green-style roof" according to Andrews. Only municipalities are eligible to apply for LOCIP funds, hence the request through the F&G committee for the city to apply for the funds on behalf of the Westfield Fire Department. The committee unanimously approved the request, which now goes to the Common Council.

Other requests
The directors of Public Works and the Water and Sewer Departments came to request funds to cover replacement parts, and new equipment. Those requests were all approved.

Parking Department Proposal Moves Forward

The Finance and Government Operations Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to send a plan to create an autonomous Parking Department to the Common Council for a vote.

Downtown merchants urged the commission to follow the recommendation of the parking study group and create a department which would focus exclusively on parking issues in town. Currently, parking matters are handled by the Police Department.

Because a parking department would actually raise revenue, estimated at $700,000 annually in it's first year, the creation of a department would require an additional $122,000 of that money earmarked for salaries, office space and other expenses, added to the current $230,000 which is currently budgeted.

Merchants and downtown property owners like Marc Levine, Peter Harding and Welles Guilmartin claimed that the new department could help solve the ongoing downtown parking problem, and increase revenue from lots like the one at Mellili Plaza where 70 cars a day are estimated to avoid the parking fee by simply waiting until the parking attendent is off duty.

The Common Council will consider the recommendation at its next meeting.

In other business, the commission tabled a request by the Police Department for upgraded Mobile Data Terminals until it becomes clear how much the state will contribute in the coming year in Local Capital Improvement (LoCIP) funds.

They also turned down a request from the Water and Sewer Department to attend a conference based on a pledge to prohibit conference attendance except in cases where accreditation is at risk.

The Commission approved confined space training for the Parks and Recreation Department, and they accepted a "Safer" grant for $494,727 which the Fire Department received from the Federal government to increase staffing levels for specially trained personnel.

The Commission also decided on a workshop session for a new resolution on the use of city vehicles by municipal employees. The new resolution would explicitly restrict the use of vehicles to on-call purposes and prohibit personal use by employees.

The Commission also approved an increase in budget for snow removal for 2009 due to the increase in storms, particularly storms on weekends, causing overtime costs.