AMHERST — A Town Council subcommittee is supporting hiring a municipal employee to oversee Amherst’s parking system, and possibly undertaking work to improve signs and the parking webpage as a way of reducing frustrations for visitors.
But the Community Resources Committee is advising the Town Council not to create a dedicated fund for downtown parking and transportation improvements. Instead, it suggests taking a percentage of money from the existing transportation fund for targeted upgrades in Amherst center.
A memo from At-Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke, who chairs the resources subcommittee, to the full Town Council in advance of Monday’s meeting comes as the panel had 90 days to act on three priority recommendations madein November by the Downtown Parking Working Group before it was disbanded. That group took its cues from a set of eight recommendations in a parking implementation strategy developed by NelsonNygaard Consulting Associates of Boston.
Hanneke writes that creating the new parking oversight position could be set as one of the goals for Town Manager Paul Bockelma, and be added to the council’s budget guidelines. She notes that Amherst needs to be better organized regarding parking issues, observing that multiple staff members have differing responsibilities related to parking.
“Implementing this recommendation would create more clarity and ensure that parking matters addressed in a coordinated manner,” Hanneke writes. “And, given how often councilors hear from constituents regarding parking issues, creating a single point of contact for residents seems logical.”
Related recommendations are having more visible and consistent signs and updating the webpage. People who use the ParkMobile app on their smartphones have noted the names of the lots physically don’t always match the names of the lots on their phones.
The subcommittee also recommends that the council seek Finance Committee guidance regarding the minimum percentage of the transportation fund, which takes in about $1.1 million a year, that should be dedicated to improvements and parking downtown.
The subcommittee’s concern, Hanneke writes, is that this fund is used for many objectives, including salaries of parking enforcement officers, PVTA outreach routes, Valley BikeShare fees, meter and kiosk maintenance and parking lot improvements.
NelsonNygaard suggested establishing a parking benefits district, which has been implemented in other cities and towns. The subcommittee isn’t interested in that.
“Under the law, a transportation fund has more flexibility than a parking benefits district, and CRC believes this flexibility is important,” Hanneke writes. “However, CRC recommends dedicating a minimum percentage of the transportation fund to downtown parking and transportation improvements. It believes this is important in order to ensure that the funds raised in downtown are spent in downtown.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
