SHELBURNE — Selectmen’s Chairman Joseph Judd has proposed turning an underused gravel parking lot behind the old Mole Hollow Candle Co. building into a two-story parking garage with a walkway/ramp leading to Bridge Street and the commercial center of Shelburne Falls.
Judd raised the idea; meanwhile, town officials have been considering whether the village has enough parking to accommodate tourists, shoppers and building tenants for the present and the future.
Selectmen have applied for a $15,000 Massachusetts Downtown Initiative Technical Assistance Grant to plan for parking that would allow for the growth of both village businesses and apartments.
This year, parking issues have arisen, along with the enforcement of two-hour parking limits along Bridge Street and Deerfield Avenue. Also, the new owners of old buildings and building sites on Bridge Street have been concerned about the number of parking spaces they would have to provide, as presented in the town’s zoning bylaws.
How to preserve the character of this walkable village with its cluster of historic brick buildings, while still providing convenient parking, has been debated for decades.
“It’s time for the Board of Selectmen to lead the process in getting a parking garage,” Judd said. “It’s become clear to me that our board has authority to get the wheels in motion. Once the parking study is done, if we get the grant, we need to be the catalysts to get serious about building a parking garage,” he said. “We have a site — but I’m open to other sites.”
If Shelburne gets the grant, Judd said he hopes the parking study would get the process started and would tie in with the need for tenant parking on Bridge Street. Judd said he’s also willing to consider other sites for a parking garage, if a better site is found.
Currently, the town-owned parking lot off Deerfield Avenue, not far from the Glacial Potholes, is used as an overnight parking lot while the winter overnight parking ban is in effect. Although it’s available for parking year-round, few people park there because it feels disconnected to the shops and attractions of the village, plus it requires an uphill walk along an unpaved driveway.
Last year, Judd revived the idea of building a Glacial Potholes observation deck with a scenic walkway as a way to revitalize what was once a large tourist attraction. Judd said a “skywalk” from the upper-level of the parking garage to Bridge Street might fill a similar role, while making the parking area more inviting and more connected to the village.
On the other side of the river, Buckland has ample free parking in its old, unpaved rail station lot, which is now mostly used by visitors to the Blue Rock Restaurant, Salmon Falls Showroom, the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum and a few other businesses.
But this hilltop lot isn’t used as much by daytime visitors, because, like the Deerfield Street parking area, it feels cut off from most of Shelburne Falls shops and attractions.
Camela Lanza-Weil, executive director of the Greater Shelburne Falls Area Business Association, is looking into a grant that might help transform the remote-feeling Ashfield Street parking lot into something more user-friendly and inviting.
She told Selectmen this week that the National Endowment for the Arts’ Creative Placemaking Grants makes between $3,000 to $5,000 grants available for community projects that bring people together. She said the grant program is highly competitive, but having artists’ input on how to improve that parking area might make it more useful to the town. She said there could be input from Salmon Falls, the trolley museum and the Arts Garden. Improvements may also help those who ride the FRTA buses, which have a stop there.