Survey finds no lack of parking in town, but says it could be improved if private lots are shared

YARDLEY BOROUGH – Resolving the borough’s longtime parking problem will be front and center on council’s agenda this year.

Lynne Bush, the director of the Bucks County Planning Commission, gave a report on the borough’s parking issues at council’s Jan. 3 meeting as part of a “visioning” process aimed at improving the town’s business climate.

BuVh VDLG WhDW WhH finGLnJV RI D survey conducted by the commission prove that there no lack of parking in town. But she said parking could be dramatically improved if private parking spaces were shared.

She reported that there are 738 parking spaces available in the downtown DUHD. 7hDW fiJuUH LnFOuGHV Rn- DnG RIIstreet spaces.

Of the 738 parking spaces, there are 43 on-street parking spaces, 34 of them along northbound Main Street and nine on eastbound East Afton Avenue.

The survey noted that 25 out of the 34 on-street parking spaces along Main Street were occupied on Friday, Dec. 21 at 4 p.m.

Bush said the number of off-street parking spaces is 695, 60 of which are borough-owned (44 at Buttonwood Park and 16 at borough hall).

There are 635 private off-street spaces in the borough, said Bush.

Bush said the people collecting information for the planning commission “noticed that many of the private lots are restricted and there’s not an opportunity to share any of the parking reVRuUFHV. BRURuJh FRunFLO FRnfiUPHG WhDW WhDW hDV EHHn D ORnJstanding issue regarding the borough’s business community.”

She said it would be good if some business owners in Yardley BRURuJh FRuOG EH PRUH “flHxLEOH” DnG VhDUH.

Bush said many of the private lots are adjacent to one another in most cases with limited vehicular and pedestrian connectivity between the lots. In many cases, there is a lack of sidewalks or delineated pedestrian pathways connecting the lots (located behind the buildings) to the street.

Council president Joe Hunter advocated creating “one contiguous parking lot,” similar to Newtown, by connecting lots behind properties on South Main Street. “You have to get all of these people to agree.” He said a lot of the property owners are out-of-town landlords.

“That’s the challenge right there,” he said of getting property owners and businesses to believe that lots should be connected or shared.

The council president added, “That would be a homerun for everybody.”

Margret Bork, the president of the Yardley Business Association, Bush and Hunter concurred that it’s just a matter of convincing tenants and landlords that sharing their private VSDFHV wRuOG EH EHnHfiFLDO WR WhH FRPPunLWy DnG WR EuVLnHVVHV in town.

In addition, Bush said there are parking areas outside of the delineated downtown survey boundaries. According to the report, the parking spaces “may warrant consideration given their SURxLPLWy WR WhH FHnWUDO FRPPHUFLDO DUHD DORnJ 0DLn 6WUHHW DnG planned pedestrian improvements along Afton Avenue.

“In some cases,” the report continues, “these lots may offer additional parking opportunities for visitors. Some of the larger lots are located at: Yardley Inn (Delaware and East Afton), 102 spaces; St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (West Afton Avenue), 35 spaces; and Yardleyville Square Shopping Center (West Afton Avenue), 131 parking spaces.”

Bork and Councilman Rich Wayne reported that people are fed uS EHFDuVH WhHy FDnnRW finG SDUNing downtown.

)RU HxDPSOH, SHRSOH DUH SDUNing at The Vault brewpub on South Main Street for long periods of time, taking up many of the available parking spaces.

One proposal is to ask the owners of The Vault to arrange off-site parking with somebody who has HxWUD SDUNLnJ.

In a statement to BucksLocalNews.com, James Cain, co-owner of the Vault, said it is “our desire to work with our neighbors and the borough to address the current parking situation. Parking has historically been a constant struggle within the borough and any new business (brewpub or not) tends to stir-up parking confusion and other challenges.

“Our patrons have access to over 50 parking spots behind 9DuOW BUHwLnJ CRPSDny whLFh LV WySLFDOOy VuIfiFLHnW IRU WhHLU nHHGV. 7hH FuUUHnW FhDOOHnJH,” VDLG CDLn, “LV HGuFDWLnJ fiUVWtime patrons about this designated lot off of Canal Street since the majority of our patrons look for parking on South Main Street.”

Cain said parking information is available on the Vault’s wHEVLWH, www.YDuOWEUHwLnJ.FRP, “DnG wH HxSODLn WhH ORFDtions of available parking to our patrons as often as possible.

“Outside of our individual efforts, we seek to work with Yardley Borough on bettering the current parking situation to WhH EHnHfiW RI DOO EuVLnHVVHV Ln WhH ERURuJh,” hH VDLG.

BuVh VDLG WhH FRPPLVVLRn hDV EHHn GRLnJ VRPH IDFW-finGLnJ. “We did some calculations based on your ordinance of The Vault and how big it is and how many parking spaces are supposed to be provided and how many are likely to be available for that area,” Bush said.

The Vault is one of the borough’s newest businesses. The business took over the vacant bank on South Main Street near the intersection with Afton Avenue.

Councilmember Jean Schmidling advocated coming up with a short-term solution for the area near The Vault. Time limits FRuOG EH SRVWHG Ln IURnW RI YDUGOHy 3LzzD, IRU HxDPSOH. CuVWRPHUV RI WhH SLzzD SODFH DUH unDEOH WR finG SDUNLnJ Ln IURnW IRU a 10- or 15-minute stop, she said.