Longtime Westporter “06880” reader Scott Smith writes:
I’ve sat on the sidelines for most of the endless debate about downtown parking, but the recent 06880 post about the “field trip” to Jesup Green by RTM members and town leaders really gets my goat.
I can’t believe the town is considering paving over a large swath of precious and historic green space in the heart of downtown for the sake of a few more parked cars.
I googled the Jesup Green area to get a bird’s-eye view. I wanted to explore an idea: If the merchants or town muckety-mucks really want more convenient parking downtown, they should buy 100 and/or 126 Post Road East — the current homes of Paper Source/Bankwell and Bank of America, respectively — and turn those sites into public parking.
Aerial view of downtown shows many empty parking spaces behind the Bank of America building (top center, red circle), and Paper Source (to its immediate left). Jesup Road is the street in the middle. Jesup Green, and the Taylor parking lot, are at lower left.
Each entity could be easily relocated, as there’s already a glut of empty retail space in the area (and certainly no shortage of banks). Hey, knock yourself out and amortize both properties. Presto: There’s your 40 new spaces, close by anywhere downtown.
But do we really want to pave over all of downtown? Looking at the satellite view makes me think there is absolutely no shortage of parking in the area surrounding Jesup Green.
Toni Simonetti outlined current police parking near Jesup Green (center) and behind police headquarters (lower right) in yellow. The purple area shows where new parking could be created at the top of Jesup Green (outline), and along Jesup Road (hash marks).
The problem is access and zoning. No way BofA, with its drive-thru, needs all those parking spaces, for instance. Or perhaps the bank could be persuaded to open up its empty parking spaces to employees of local retailers who bank with them? Has anybody asked?
Not shown in the bird’s-eye view is another overlooked parking option: All the unused spaces behind the Police Department.
Lower parking lot, near police headquarters. The entrance is at the bottom of Jesup Road, near Imperial Avenue. This view is looking west, toward the Levitt Pavilion and Library.
I parked there a dozen years ago while working at the Westport YMCA when it was still downtown, and the Jesup Road municipal lot was closed for renovation and construction of the Paper Source building.
It’s an easy walk, especially for those working and shopping on the southeast side of downtown. Presto: There’s 40 more spaces!
So c’mon, RTM members, First Selectwoman Tooker and Public Works director Ratkiewich: If you’re dead set on adding downtown parking, get off the dime and build a deck on the Baldwin lot.
Or repurpose the police lot for safe, secure parking for retail employees.
Or make a deal to open up or convert existing underutilized retail space to additional parking.
But keep your hands off the town’s unique and under-appreciated riverfront walkways and vistas — especially Jesup Green.
Scott’s suggestion to utilize the parking lot behind police headquarters, near Deadman Brook, has been made by other “06880” readers.
One idea: Use that entire lot behind the headquarters building for police vehicle parking. That would free up the spaces currently used to the west of the building — near Jesup Green — for parking by downtown shoppers, restaurant-goers and employees.
The RTM will discuss a $630,000 appropriation for a study on Jesup Green and Imperial Avenue parking at its meeting on Tuesday, May 7 (Town Hall auditorium), following its vote on the Board of Education budget. Discussion on the parking issue is expected to begin around 8:30 p.m.
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