APPENDIX T
From: Michael R. Abend
Date: April 20, 2004
SUBJECT:
Concord
Parking
This memorandum documents my observations and summarizes my recommendations regarding the parking situation in the three villages within the town of Concord. The maps of the three villages have been reviewed, parking data has been evaluated, and observations have been made at various times over the last month or so. These observations have included weekdays during the morning peak hour, the midday lunchtime period, the evening commuter hour and weekend days.
My overall conclusions are that – at least during the September/October season – overall parking capacity is not as critical a problem as it first appears in either West Concord or the Depot area (although some lots are underutilized and others are over utilized), but there seems to be a significant amount of unmet demand in the town center. It appears that there are several factors that exacerbate the parking problems within the center of town, including the high percentage of tourists both driving and walking in the area and other minor factors such as the narrowness of some streets and access ways and the lack of convenient circulation routes for people searching for parking. This memorandum presents observation of the situation that may lead the community to explore certain specific and general strategies for addressing problems and issues.
This memorandum has been arranged as a list of observations and suggestions that provide with some insight into how I have viewed the situation and what factors have contributed to my recommendations. It also includes some specific strategies that address parking concerns in each of the three villages. Some opportunities to improve parking require cooperation among the various interests including landowners, business owners, town departments, and the town itself. Reference to the town refers to town boards and committees and the population as a whole since their approval is needed for zoning bylaw changes that will be needed to make some of these strategies work.
In considering the parking issues, I have not lost sight of the importance of the historic nature of the villages. The parking problems, in many ways, are a result of this historic character and setting. In my opinion there are two factors that are the most significant contributors to the current situation – the fact that automobiles were not around when the villages were established and the fact that the historic character of the villages has been developed over a long period of time and the historic character that is cherished today is an amalgamation of a continuous period of change that is ongoing today. To address the problem effectively these factors must be recognized for what they are – it has to be accepted that something has to be changed if the parking and access problems are to be resolved.
3. Overlay district – An overlay district within the villages is strongly encouraged. Such a district would allow for shared parking and/or different parking ratios than in other locations within the town. Rezoning for shared parking would be needed. The overlay district would allow for relaxing certain bylaw and site plan review requirements. While this recommendation addresses the parking aspects of such an overlay district, it is possible that the town will want to consider incorporating other restrictions as well. That is, along with reducing or changing parking ratios or parking space dimensions there may also be some adjustments/easing of restrictions related to setbacks, lighting, open space, etc. Insofar as parking is concerned, it may be desirable to eliminate some setbacks to allow parking to be right up to the property line of adjacent lots where parking is also provided, adjustments in the parking space dimensions or aisle dimensions, adjustments in the amount of parking provided per square foot of various land uses, an opportunity to lease excess parking to an adjacent land owners and/or businesses, etc. The overlay district will not simply include “giveaways” but could be designed to more strictly enforce architectural aesthetic elements, delivery schedules, employee parking patterns, and possibly other non-parking related site features. It is important to keep all of the aspects of the overlay district flexible so the town can balance competing interests.
In managing the overlay district it would likely be the case that developments within the overlay district would also be subject to special permits with the special permit granting authority likely being the Board of Appeals, with input from other town boards or committees (particularly the Planning Board). Overall, the purpose of the overlay district would be designed to maintain the vitality and aesthetics of the village.
Without an overlay district much of the opportunity for shared parking would be lost due to existing zoning and site plan requirements. A village overlay district – with a distinct perimeter – might allow for stricter parking regulations around the perimeter, thereby better protecting the neighborhoods from overflow parking. It is important, however, that this protection occurs at the same time as adequate parking is being provided within the village.
5. Benefits/purpose of an overlay district – In developing an overlay district, a clear purpose needs to be developed. For example, the purpose might be to encourage “effective parking within the business district to minimize illegal parking, improve pedestrian and traffic circulation and safety, and encourage economic vitality. Sharing parking between both complementary and conflicting uses is encouraged wherever possible as long as individual property rights and parking needs are not adversely affected.” The business community should work with town officials to determine how these arrangements will best be managed and how the various landowners will be compensated where others are using their property for parking. In some cases, the combining of lots will increase the overall parking supply and benefit all land owners. Some landowners may lose parking that they may only use occasionally but which could be replaced by access to another lot at those times. The overlay district may allow for satellite parking as well for a business to meet its parking requirements.
6. Marked on-street parking – Having marked street spaces, i.e., the little marks that designate each space, is generally more efficient than unmarked spaces. It is my opinion that marking the spaces all along Main Street, past Concord Academy and the library, will be more efficient and orderly. It seems inappropriate that Concord Academy has such convenient on-street, free parking while local businesses are in a deficit. Long-term meters could be used here to allow parking for the school but bring some revenues into the town and also encourage these long-term parkers to park well away from the more critical downtown parking areas. Since the use of meters might be in conflict with aesthetic goals in this area, it may be possible to reach agreement with Concord Academy to otherwise manage and pay for this parking area.
7. Parking access is awkward and inconvenient – One factor contributing to the perception of a worse parking problem than actually exists is the street layout in the three villages, particularly the town center. The various places to park in the center are not easily found or accessed. It is a significant effort to reach many parking areas so that the frustration level is greater when parking is not available. For example, those who make the effort to get into the municipal lot off of Walden Street (adjacent to the post office) become frustrated when they must exit onto Hubbard Street and then make a pair of left turns to recirculate along Walden Street toward Main Street. During many busy periods the congestion within a parking lot can be very frustrating and irritating, leaving customers of village businesses with a bad taste from the visit. It can be particularly frustrating for those who have just a quick errand to run in the center of town. Some congestion results from parking areas being usurped by loading operations that sometimes coincide with peak parking demand periods. This delay spills over to those traveling along the public roads as well.
9. Parking lot consolidation – Consolidating the several narrow parking lots near the municipal lot off of Walden Street seems like an obvious opportunity if the several landowners are prepared to cooperate. They would be able to share the revenue from the meters and also retain some dedicated parking. It would seem that having ten dedicated spaces is not as beneficial as sharing fifteen where the maintenance for the parking would be shared as well. Since obviously some landowners have parking that is more desirable than others, they might naturally get more revenue from their meters than the landowners who are not in as desirable a location. The maintenance fees could be assigned based on several criteria: either the number of parking spaces, the area of pavement, or some other criteria that would be determined by the association that is established to manage the parking.
10. Cooperation creates opportunities – Cooperation among landowners will require some sort of formal association since sharing resources will include sharing maintenance of those resources (plowing, etc.). It is strongly recommended that parking be metered in virtually all parking lots where overnight parking is not expected such as at the Inn. The advantage of having meters within private lots is that the revenue generated by the meters on various landowners’ property would be revenue for them. Thus, it would naturally compensate those people who were allowing their parking to be used by others to benefit. Even with the meters there could be exceptions where some spaces are reserved for specific businesses. The businesses could develop a way to reimburse customers for parking fees. One quaint way might be to have a bowl of change at the front door, available for customers to reimburse themselves after visiting the store or establishment. This is not something that would work in an urban environment but might be appropriate in Concord.
11. Confusion causes many delays and parking access problems – The lack of organized off-street parking creates a number of additional delays due to poorly defined and uncontrolled pedestrian flows. The high number of tourists and others unfamiliar with the local area increases the confusion for pedestrians and for drivers who tend to be tentative and overly courteous as a result. This leads to additional delays and confusion, increasing the level of frustration of those looking for parking. Observations indicate that much of the traffic delays that occur in the downtown area are unrelated to traffic “congestion”. The high number of pedestrians walking along the streets, crossing in crosswalks – or crossing at other points – cause a lot of this delay. Other delays relate to the indecision of drivers at intersections, particularly around the Monument Square rotary. In particular, the right-of-way – while marked appropriately with signs – is not clear to drivers unfamiliar with Concord and the alignment and width of the pavement sends conflicting signals. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that the intersecting points around Monument Square be redesigned (either with changes to the raised islands or through pavement striping and/or rumble strips) to better define the right-of-way. It may be desirable to provide graphic signs showing the layout of the rotary and how to reach each of the different directions as people enter the rotary itself. None of these recommendations relate to changing the basic pattern or reducing the size of the existing islands; if anything some of the islands would be expanded. There are several different areas of the rotary that can be adjusted to improve circulation and parking access. Some changes might allow for an increase in the on-street parking but are primarily designed to enhance flows that allow for better access through the rotary and safer conditions. Another area to be considered for redesign is Keyes Road and the municipal parking area located on either side of the road.
14. Lexington Street parking – Parking along Lexington Street, in front of the church and out toward Lexington, is unsightly and haphazard. This is the entryway for many tourists and the informal on-street parking (i.e., on the shoulders and sidewalks rather than in formal spaces) significantly detracts from the ambience. Consideration should be given to formalizing this parking (with on-street parking on one-side or the other) or some additional parking area be created so that this entry can be an appropriate welcoming route for visitors and tourists.
15. Monument Square parking – The roadways in the vicinity of Monument Square are poorly controlled and organized. There are great areas of pavement that go unused by both traffic and parking (particularly the area between the two islands that make up the rotary). This area could accommodate additional parking or possibly service a loading area for tour buses on occasions. This section is more than thirty feet wide but is used by only one lane of light traffic.
There are a number of places where the pavement widths are excessive for the amount of traffic using the roadway for example, the connection that allows traffic to turn left onto Main Street from Lexington Street in Monument Square. There may be an opportunity to gain parking or perhaps a “town bus stop.” The striping of parking along Main Street past Concord Academy is an example of how parking can be increased by formalizing it. In many areas, angle parking might be substituted for parallel parking where pavement widths allow. It is recommended that the marked spacing along Concord Academy be extended west on both sides of the street closer to Thoreau Street.
16. Reorganize/consolidate parking in the center – Many of the parking lots within the Concord Center area are awkward and confusing. These observations are based on non-winter conditions; snow and ice likely exacerbate conditions. In some cases adjacent landowners share parking that overlaps the property lines, while in other cases existing fences and/or vegetated barriers separate parking areas. It is strongly recommended that wherever possible parking be shared and consolidated. One reason for this is that there will be an overall greater number of parking spaces available. Another reason will be that access to the parking will be improved significantly. There are many places that traffic goes in and out along Main Street and Walden Street that is problematic for traffic movements. Some adjustments could be made to the access points to the various parking lots to enhance overall access through the downtown and to and from the parking areas. As part of any changes to the large municipal lot adjacent to the post office, it should be considered whether or not a land swap or other arrangements could be developed to create a two-way access onto Hubbard Street.
In sharing parking, maintenance agreements and revenue sharing plans would have to be developed but I believe that these could be manageable so long as the overall parking supply is increased and all of the business/landowners are cooperating. There are also obvious opportunities for putting to use underutilized spaces in private lots. Most notably, the Christian Science Church appears to have lots of extra spaces during the normal weekday, which could be put to use by employees of local businesses in order to free spaces in the Keyes Road lot for customer and short-term visitors.
17. Depot parking – Because of the “normalcy” of the intersections in the Depot area, there are not obvious opportunities of adjusting traffic circulation patterns to enhance parking and business access there. There does not appear to be any obvious one-way opportunities and because many off-street lots have awkward access driveways and are also close to the street, there are not many opportunities to redesign these access points short of redesigning the entire site. For these reasons there are no specific recommendations associated with on-street traffic circulation issues. Some of the older, more awkward lots and structures might be more easily and productively redeveloped within an overlay district.
The most notable feature of on-street parking in the Depot area is the parking space dimensions along Thoreau Street. Many of these spaces are 20 feet or less in length, which greatly increases the time it takes drivers to pull in and out of these spaces. This, combined with the generally narrow layout of Thoreau Street creates congestion and discourages on-street parking. There are also many areas where off-street parking relies on on-street circulation such as on Middle Street and one or two of the small parking areas along Thoreau Street. In these places vehicles back in and out using Thoreau Street as a parking aisle. Consideration should be given to adjust or eliminate this awkwardness. In many cases the conversion of single-family homes to businesses, particularly on the west end of Thoreau Street, resulted in many of them relying on a residential driveway for employee and customer parking. Some sort of change needs to be considered here.
Many of the off-street parking lots are awkward in the Depot area, particularly those along Thoreau Street. Some of the lots can be combined to eliminate curb cuts and create a more consolidated frontage. Consolidating the different driveways and parking areas would also create additional curb frontage to allow for more on-street parking. These small lots have a significant amount of non-parkable paved areas due to the low number of spaces provided.
18. Increasing commuter parking in the Depot area – There are two apparent opportunities for improving the parking supply the Depot area. The Crosby lot currently allocates a certain number of spaces for commuters while most other commercial lots have extensive signage preventing commuter parking. Observations in September and October indicate that these larger lots have excess capacity that could be added to the commuter parking supply. Most notably the parking within Concord Crossing seems significantly underutilized. While these lots are not easily consolidated or expanded, it is noted that the creation of the overlay district, possibly allowing these landowners to lease spaces and/or are otherwise “sell” their excess capacity would greatly benefit the overall village. Many of the village businesses along Thoreau Street could have their employees’ park at Crosby’s or at Concord Crossing, thereby freeing up the more valuable on-street spaces or small customer lots. Although we did not confirm this, it appears that the small parking area at Starbucks includes no employee parking and these employees are parking along the street or in some of the other off-street commercial lots already.
Crosby’s Market area should be considered for additional commuter parking. The area in front of American Video seems to be available much of the daytime. This could be leased to the MBTA and/or the town and operated with a fee structure and filled with the earlier commuter crowd so it is cleared out by dinnertime for the restaurant here. In addition, the area at Crosby Market looks like it could be expanded given parking demand for the shopping center itself. Overall, it seems that more than 55 spaces could be dedicated for this use on weekdays.
An often-overlooked area is the informal commuter parking that occurs on railroad right-of-way land off of Cottage Lane and Belknap Street. Working with the MBTA and the neighborhood to formalize these parking spaces could increase the number of commuter parking spaces, improve drainage and enhance the visual character in the area.
19. West Concord parking – In West Concord the section of Commonwealth Avenue between Main Street and the railroad tracks is very narrow; removing the parking along one side or the other is not desirable given the lack of other nearby parking. The overall pavement width here is not enough to provide sufficient room for people to enter and exit their vehicles when there is traffic in either direction. This is exacerbated when larger vehicle passes through this section or in bad weather. It is noted that the small shopping center on Main Street almost always has one-quarter to one-third of its parking available even at its busiest times. The mix of businesses within this center is very complementary and has a high rate of turnover. There is an opportunity for this landowner to consider leasing parking to other businesses such as the Ninety-Nine either for employee parking or customer parking.
20. Create a rotary at Laws Brook Road –
Consideration should be given to converting the triangular island at the
Commonwealth Avenue/Laws Brook Road intersection into a rotary. The three T intersections that exist now
would be improved by creating a rotary pattern both in terms of traffic flows
and safety. The key benefit of this
change would be to create a turnaround point for traffic within the village so
that someone searching for on-street parking or who has parked on the street can
use the rotary to reverse direction.
This will be a convenience for on-street parkers and will facilitate
business activity. The traffic
flows through this set of intersections should be evaluated before this
recommendation moves forward to ensure that operations will be
acceptable.
21. Possible one-way loop in West Concord – To improve recirculation in West Concord, a one-way system might be considered for Main Street, Church Street, and Commonwealth Avenue, in a counterclockwise direction. This would not only provide a more manageable way for patrons to reverse direction and return through the village (useful for those looking for parking as well as those that parallel park on the street) but it would also improve the flow of traffic along the narrow stretch of Commonwealth Avenue and allow parking on Church Street. Main Street could be made one-way or remain two-way; the key is whether or not the signals along Main Street (at Church Street and at Commonwealth Avenue) can be designed properly to accommodate the various movements. It is my estimate that they could be adjusted accordingly. Creating this one-way pattern might eliminate the long queues that form through West Concord during the morning peak hour. At the other end of the village consideration should be given to redesigning the Law Brook Road/Commonwealth Avenue triangle into a small rotary. These two changes would create a natural circulation within the West Concord village that would allow customers to more easily maneuver through the village. Specifically, it would allow someone to drive through the main village, loop around at the rotary at one end or using the one-way loop at the other, and recirculate in the other direction. Currently on-street parkers need to use the side streets to make this maneuver, which leads to a significant amount of congestion and delay for both parkers and through traffic. This would reduce the amount of traffic using side streets to park or reverse directions.
While this would create a minor hardship for some businesses and local residents, it would also significantly improve overall traffic circulation and parking in the village. Creating a one-way pattern would create more pavement within the existing cross-section to be dedicated to parking and would also provide wider travel and parking lanes. While the traffic signal at Church Street and Main Street will need to be revised to accommodate the changed approach patterns, the signal at Commonwealth Avenue and Main Street could be eliminated. At Commonwealth Avenue/Main Street the channelization islands could be recreated to provide a landscape element and the elimination of left-turns throughout this loop will enhance traffic flows. These traffic flow improvements would likely offset the impacts of the additional travel distances. If operational or other constraints make this option infeasible or undesirable, then leaving Main Street two-way but having the other two streets become one-way should be considered.
Several benefits of the one-way system would facilitate parking and circulation. Westbound along Commonwealth Avenue (approaching Church Street and the railroad crossing) could be two lanes so traffic onto Church Street could continue while the right lane might be delayed for a train. Pedestrians crossing Main Street and/or Commonwealth Avenue in this area would have an easier time with traffic only approaching from a single direction. Neck downs could be incorporated more easily with a one-way pattern as well. In some areas where the pavement width might allow or where businesses are generally on one side of the street (i.e., Main Street near the Ninety-Nine restaurant) angle parking might be created along the business side with no parking on the opposite side. While the section of Commonwealth Avenue, just west of Main Street, would still be too narrow to create two full width travel lanes and two parking lanes (as is the case now) the single travel lane would be wide enough to allow people to swing around someone waiting for a parking space to open up, although this would have to be done at a low approach speed. Right now a waiting vehicle blocks traffic entirely in that direction and sometimes also blocks opposing flows as vehicles maneuver in and out of the spaces.
Traffic entering the one-way loop would yield to traffic already within the loop. At both of the non-signalized entry points, visibility is excellent. Given the wide pavement area adjacent to the railroad tracks at the Church Street/Commonwealth Avenue intersection the island could also serve as a pedestrian oasis and breakup the expansive pavement here. Obviously, the design of these channelization islands and subsequent design of parking areas within the loop would need to take into account truck activity and maneuverability.
22. Increased parking with a one-way loop – Parking along the above-suggested one-way loop can be increased over existing spaces because of the elimination of the two-way flows. In particular, Church Street could include parallel parking along one or both sides, Commonwealth Avenue could retain parking on both sides, and parking along Main Street between Church Street and Main Street would be available on either both sides or as angle parking on one side.
The increase in parking spaces will allow for some flexibility in creating pedestrian crossing locations (including neck downs) and designated loading zones. These loading zones could be shared by several businesses along one side of the street where off-street loading is not available. The one-way pattern would also make access in and out of the driveways to businesses and parking lots easier.
Along with the changes to parking spaces should be increasing the size of the parking spaces both in width and length. The length of a marked parking space makes it easier for people to pull in and out quickly so as to not disrupt through traffic. Having a slightly wider parking space will result in the parking lines extending slightly more into the travel way, which will result in slightly slower travel flows past people getting in and out of there vehicles. This is a minor traffic calming measure.
23. Connecting Beharrel Street to Winthrop Street – In discussing the West Concord Village with the town staff, the opportunity to convert an old rail spur (to the north of Commonwealth Avenue) to an access road was discussed. Such an access could consolidate several driveways and parking areas, most notably the commuter parking for the train and also some of the other businesses closer to Commonwealth Avenue. It would also allow Beharrel Street to be less of a through road and more of a minor access road. It could be converted to one-way with parking along one side. The use of this rail spur as a road would create a vehicular crossing of the creek running from Warner’s Pond to the Assabet River, which only has a pedestrian bridge across it now. This would open up some of the parking on the other side of the creek where some employee parking is already occurring for businesses on the village side of the creek. Careful consideration must be given to the affect this would have on traffic in and out of Winthrop Street before any specific changes are made along this route.
Consideration of Parking
Structures
The potential for developing parking structures in any of the villages has not been thoroughly evaluated since the general conclusions of this evaluation are that the accessibility, management, and design of the parking facilities in the villages are more of an issue than the overall supply. Nonetheless, new parking structures should be considered.
Due to the great expense of structured parking, along with the spatial limits and constraints, it is my recommendation that existing surface parking be maximized and organized before structured parking is seriously considered.
Conclusions
The parking concerns in Concord’s three villages are not simply related to parking supply and demand but also relate to accessibility. Confusion, congestion, delays, and other factors leave visitors and local users with a feeling that “it is difficult to park” in these areas. To address this, efforts need to be made to increase parking supplies, improve accessibility to parking areas both on-street and off-street, and better control traffic circulation within the villages so that searching for a parking space is not as difficult as it is now. People who are circulating around the village looking for parking are simply adding to traffic congestion; when someone can drive into the village and immediately pull into a parking area or get off the street it helps reduce the overall level of congestion for both pedestrians and drivers an enhances their overall “village” experience.
This assessment has presented several specific and general strategies for dealing with these issues. The most critical is the overlay district, which would allow flexibility in dealing with these villages. Applying general zoning bylaws to the unusually shaped parcels within the villages contributes to the problem. An overlay district that allows for flexibility and cooperation among the various parties and landowners will result in a positive impact in the overall aesthetics, ambiance, accessibility, and vitality of these business districts.
It is recommended that the next step be to appoint an ad-hoc town committee to evaluate the potential limits and flexibility of an overlay district. In addition, the business associations within the various villages should be presented with these ideas and their input should be obtained. It needs to be kept in mind that the various constituencies (business owners, landowners, townspeople, etc.) need to be heard from and accounted for in any rezoning effort. Technical analyses should be done to determine the opportunity for increased parking supplies and to determine whether geometric changes to the various access points and roadway designs are feasible and practical.
20336-Concord