Is Flakowitz parking relief near?
The owners of the Flakowitz restaurant shopping center off Boynton Beach Boulevard are aiming to make parking for a bagel and schmear — or any other item sold in there — a tad less treacherous by building a separate parking lot for employees.
It’s needed. Drivers circled the lot Wednesday like sharks waiting for the rarest prey: an empty space.
While Taylor Brown backed out of a space, her mother sat in the passenger seat pointing at the cars coming at them. With each hand gesture came a tap of the brake.
“You can take your life in your hands in this parking lot,” Linda Brown said. “They don’t let you go.”
The new parking lot, just under two acres east of the plaza, will accommodate 130 cars — in theory, thinning the ranks of parking space predators.
“So it will remove the employees parking that are now competing with the customers in the existing lot,” resident Steve Oseroff said.
The 50,000-square-foot shopping center at the southeast corner of the Hagen Ranch Road intersection is Alexandra Seltzer also home to a Subway sandwich shop, a veterinarian, and more restaurants and retailers.
It’s always busy, but the line inside the New Yorkstyle deli can stretch at least 15 people deep for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Customers loathe driving in.
They say drivers beep with impatience, speed with impunity and they’re distracted. Sometimes they just stop in the middle of the lot for no clear reason.
“If you are trying to get in (a spot), they’re up your butt,” Linda Brown said.
While the need for the extra lot is clear, the Palm Beach County commission must first approve it. The zoning commission will vote today.
Resident Bernie Berger dined at Flakowitz with a handful of his buddies Wednesday. While the food was good, Berger said the lot gives him indigestion.
“It’s always congested and you’re afraid somebody will hit you. It’s not a safe environment when you come in here,” he said.
The men favor another parking lot, but Armand Gandara recommended the owner post a sign: “Employees Only.” He also recommended adding lighting.
Said Berger: “It would alleviate the congestion that we have here.”