they park?

For downtown merchants, the availability of metered parking is an ongoing cause for concern, even though a number of studies have indicated that the city has more than ample parking to meet its downtown needs.

In fact, spot checks of the lot in question indicate that metered spaces in both the lot and its immediate vicinity are underutilized during the day. In the middle of a recent Wednesday afternoon, for example, 33 of the 54 spaces were empty, as were three of the five meters in the upper lot, nine metered spaces along Park Avenue and three metered spaces across from the lot on West Center Street.

During a recent Meadville City Council study session, Dave Stone, owner of Mickey’s Central Fire Station Restaurant and Lounge, which is directly across West Center from the metered lot, said he was primarily concerned about what will happen during the bank’s construction phase — and where his customers will park on Fridays between late afternoon and 6 p.m., when almost all the city’s reserved spaces become available for public use.

“If we sit down and work this thing out, it’s got great potential,” Stone said.

Chriest already has a couple of ideas in mind. If Erie Bank proceeds with plans to have vehicles enter the property from West Cherry Street and exit onto West Center, for example, the city is prepared to add six to seven spaces along Park Avenue in front of the new bank, he said.

A number of reserved spaces in the remaining section of the lot could also be converted to metered parking. As of July 1, for example, the city expects 11 of the lot’s 78 reserved spaces to be unrented.

The city is also considering converting approximately seven of the dozen or so metered spaces in the Keystone View lot at the corner of Market and West Cherry streets. “We could offer them to people now holding reserved spaces in the central lot,” Chriest said. “That would allow us to put additional metered spaces in the central lot.”

Mary Spicer can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at mspicer@meadvilletribune.com.