Curtis LaPierre forwarded us a draft document from the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) about the proposal to allow temporary surface parking lots near Link light rail stations. You can read it here.
According to this draft, the intent of the proposal is to “promote rail ridership, encourage use of vacant properties and provide economic return until the development market returns,” and it would do this both by allowing existing parking areas in Station Area Overlay Districts to be used as commuter and customer parking, and by allowing “use of extra parking or vacant portions of a lot as commuter and customer parking for land related to existing institutions within walking distance of a light rail station.” The parking would be permitted as an interim use for a maximum period of three years.
A DPD representative will be at the next North Beacon Hill Council meeting to discuss the parking lot proposal. The meeting is on Thursday, June 3 at 6:30 pm in the Beacon Hill Library meeting room, 2821 Beacon Avenue South.
Here are questions I have about why we would ever, ever, ever support commuter parking in our residential neighborhood:
Why would we want to set a precedent for building parking lots for people outside our neighborhood, on our best turf, that would detract further from the neighborhood aesthetic? It could be three years to start, and it could be another 3 and another 3 after that by council action.
If landowners get revenues to keep it empty, is that a good incentive to get something else going? Boy, DPD sure sets their sights low on our behalf! I would rather have some of the grass and trees back before we host parking lots for three years.
We can’t create a pedestrian and bike friendly neighborhood if we use our urban center for parking lots. How can it be environmental to bring commuters all the way into the City, and then have them park in a residential neighborhood 5 minutes from their final destination, when there are acres of impervious surface just for this purpose already built near the stadiums and downtown?
Why don’t we increase ridership on the train by helping people in existing multi-famly housing get to the light rail station with better bike, ped and bus routes? Why do we have to wait to build new housing before we improve light rail ridership for existing Beacon Hill residents? What are we, chopped liver?
This might make sense on parking lots down the line on the edge of the City,in a commercial area, but not in our residential neighborhood, a stone’s throw from downtown, where we want our kids to have safer bike rides on their daily commute to school.