Downtown parking changes good ones


The town council is poised to move on amending several aspects of the town’s parking code. The planned changes to the village will bring additional spaces and time constraints that should benefit residents and area businesses.

The primary change would be to allow eighthour public parking at the former ambulance barn on Knowles Court, a move we advocated for two years ago. The area can accommodate between 10-18 parking spots just a block away from Narragansett Avenue.

It helps address the single-biggest issue in this part of town and is the perfect off-avenue location. It’s close enough to walk — something that perhaps could be aided by some sort of pass-through to Narragansett Avenue — and is best-suited for this purpose.

While the lot, valued by some local Realtors at about $600,000, could be sold, the only viable option would be condos, which would add to the area’s parking problems, not alleviate them. Once that parcel is gone, the town never would be able to get it back and this opportunity would be lost forever. Conversely, the former bank location on the avenue is prime retail space at which a parking lot would be wasted.

Assuming 15 vehicles park in the lot daily and the occupants spend $50 in town, that would generate about $110,000 just for the months of May through September (all of which is a very conservative estimate). That value to the local economy in making this space available for parking far exceeds what could be realized in a sale and subsequent taxes, making this a well worthwhile investment.

Another good change is the proposal for a two-hour time limit for the 15 spots along the East Ferry seawall north of the bus stop — down from eight hours — to increase turnover and shoppers downtown.

Also being switched to two-hour parking is the lot across from the Narragansett Cafe. We would urge the town to find a way to make it better known that the space is a municipal lot since it is unclear by the way it’s marked now.