Businesses balk at parking plans

ONEIDA, N.Y. >> Discussion at a special public meeting addressing the status of the Oneida Rail Trail and its impact on parking in downtown Oneida turned contentious Thursday night as several business owners voiced their displeasure with current plans.

More than 25 communitymembers filled Council Chambers at City Hall, seeking to make their voices heard in a project from which they feel excluded.

Collectively, business owners were most concerned by the Rail Trail’s route through downtown Oneida, particularly on the segment of the trail running from Oneida Street by City Hall and across Main Street onto Freight- house Alley. Along that stretch of the Rail Trail, current plans include the removal of 37 parking spaces, 15 from Oneida Street (West) and 22 from Oneida Street (East) and Freighthouse Alley.

Designers are proposing a pair of bump-outs on the western side of Oneida Street where it connects with Broad Street to shorten the distance across the street for pedestrians and bicycle users. In ad- dition to the bump-outs, a twoway bicycle path will be installed on the north side of Oneida Street along with sidewalk modifications.

The biggest change city residents and visitors will notice of Oneida Street under the proposed plans will be a change from angled to parallel parking on the north side of the street, closest to City Hall. Along Freighthouse Alley, proposals include a gateway-like structure welcoming Rail Trail travelers to the heart of the city near the Oneida and Main Street intersection. The gateway would lead to a roughly 60 by 70 foot plaza, replete with an informational kiosk, planters and bike racks. The plaza is currently planned for the southern border

of Clinch Park, and would cut into established parking spaces.

To begin the meeting, members of the Oneida Rail Trail and Madison County Planning Department caught residents up on current plans for the project, gave a detailed explanation of the methodologies driving the parking study and the study’s results, and gave examples of other municipalities that transformed parking lots into profitable, aesthetically pleasing venues.

During the course of the presentation, there were numerous outbursts from members of the public in attendance, and Deputy Mayor Jim Chamberlain had to call for order on more than one occasion as members of the Rail Trail attempted to share their findings.

“Remember, nothing is set in stone here. It’s just proposed,” said City of Oneida Recreation Director Luke Griff.

One of the major points of the county planning department presentation was that perception of parking downtown may differ from reality.

Gregg Myers of Myers & Co. asked about input from the fire chief and police chief and was assured the two chiefs had seen all the designs. Further, he questioned whether or not the Department of Public Works was aware of the proposed changes to Oneida Street and Freighthouse Alley as that department is responsible for snow removal, and typically piles snow at both ends of Oneida Street. Myers contended that during the winter, even more parking spots would be lost because of the snow piles.

Myers also took issue with the parking study performed by the Madison County Planning Depart- ment. The parking study analyzed the average use of five specific lots downtown: Main Street, Oneida Street (West), Oneida Street (East), Freight house Alley, and City Hall. Throughout the course of one week, counts of the five lots were taken at 9 a.m., noon, and 7 p.m. Furthermore, five aerial photos of the city downtown spanning the course of 11 years were included as a reference but not as stats for the study.

“Why not do it multiple times a year?” he asked of the parking study performed throughout the course of a week in January.

Sweet Temptations Cafe’s Joe Pomerleau suggested a two-hour parking limit for public parking in downtown lots, but questions arose as to how well that would actually be enforced. His prominent concern was that customers would be less likely to provide patronage if forced to walk further than normal.

“People are not going to walk two blocks to park,” he said.

Pomerleau warned that if parking continued to diminish in the city, more businesses would join the 22 vacant store fronts already dotting Oneida.

“I guarantee there will be more businesses closing,” he said.

One of the ideas suggested by Chamberlain as a way of providing parking relief to business owners was to open the City Hall parking lot in front of the fire department to the public after 4 p.m. Many of those spaces remain unused as per the parking study.

Ward 2 Councilor Michael Bowe questioned whether or not it might be possible to relocate the bike lane on the north side of the western portion of Oneida Street. Instead of cutting into the roadway, and thereby necessitating the change in parking from diagonal slots to parallel, he wondered whether it would bemore productive to place the bike path closer to City Hall.

“Why not move the bike lane on the other side of the sidewalk?” Bowe asked.

Attention at the meeting turned to Freighthouse Alley as a reduction of parking spaces there had Madison Street property and business owners concerned about parking for tenants. One of those owners, Gary Taylor, questioned how the traffic pattern along Freighthouse Alley would be affected by the pedestrian plaza in addition to raising a point regarding past city agendas. He said the city encouraged property owners downtown to remediate formerly vacant buildings and install midto-high-end apartments on upper levels.

“When you do that, people drive,” Taylor said, explaining that the type of clients who typically seek such apartments have one vehicle or more. “Those are a lot of spaces not used before. What’s going to happen in the future?”

Stil l, other owners warned that once parking spaces are taken away, they are not given back, while others questioned the city’s insistence that owners improve the aesthetics of their properties only to take away parking for customers.

Oneida resident Danielle Kroll also spoke at the meeting, offering a different perspective on the project from her experience as a transportation planner in Syracuse. Kroll discussed how competitive grant monies for projects like the ORT can be, complimenting the ORT for securing funding, before turning her attention to what the Rail Trail could provide business owners.

“If you want people to come in to downtown, you have to beautify,” she said, before asking the crowded room, “Don’t you want a parking problem?”

Members of the Owl’s Club in Oneida added their take at the meeting as well, citing improvements to the club’s facade and what they considered already tight parking.

“We’re not against down- town looking nicer, but we don’t want to lose parking,” Owl’s officer Mike Gruber said. The club also asked for better communication from the city moving forward, a common theme Thursday night. And though many business owners arrived at that consensus, city officials pointed out that there have been numerous public meetings and workshops regarding the Rail Trail. Further, councilors offered concerned business owners advice regarding common council meetings. Though there may not be an agenda item directly addressing the Rail Trail, the new business and old business portions of the bi-monthly council meetings are open to the public and provide constituents the opportunity to ask about the status of various city projects, like the Rail Trail.

Councilors also suggested compromise and more community input as the project proceeds.

Ward 3 Councilor Erwin Smith said, “Somewhere in this whole thing, someone has to make a compromise.”

“We’re all affected by the Rail Trail. It’s a fantastic project, but we need to have your input,” said Ward 4 Councilor Helen Acker.

The Madison County Planning Department parking study can be viewed here: http://oneidacity.com/ parking-study/