Attended Econ Develop. Committee Mtg 5/2

While i'm not a member of Econ Development, I attended the meeting on 5/2 due to the sensitive topic: West St Parking. Here's what I saw

The good - I learned some valuable info.
-I got to hear from Gary Goldman (MM Theater), stating 1)he'd renewed the lease for 5 years and 2)he wants to expand to 2 more screens = 310-315 seats = 150 parking spaces. Having real data, rather than opinion and rumor is very helpful. I appreciate his attendance very much. The Theater is the the hub of our Village, and it needs to succeed.

-I also got an appreciation for the pinch that seems to occur mid afternoons near the Executive Building

-The Village did a parking study in 2001 that has been mothballed. I think we should look at this and pay to update it concurrently with any money spent on West St.

My takeway - we need additional parking, (however "more" isn't yet sufficient to act - more data, data, data is needed)


The bad - this idea lacks planning and comprehensive study. It's being undertaken in a backwards way.

-This idea concentrates unsightly, dangerous, expensive parking unnecessarily. It doesn't help the theater. There are much cheaper options to consider first - re-add parking on Madisonville Road? Diagonal parking on West bound Wooster pike east of Graeters, Diagonal parking on East bound Wooster Pike near the Administration building, more spots on the center island (I easily can see 2-3). Here's a picture of the area around the theater that could be "optimized" with existing asphalt:



I can find 100 parking spots within this circle.

-We're jumping to Engineering Drawings too quickly. We're not ready for step 3, not sure we're ready for step 1.

-I've shared more of my objections in a previous posting.


Unless we attach full, holistic study to the Engineering request, I will vote no to spend Permanent Improvement fund money.

Cortney