The Oneonta Common Council’s Quality of Life and Infrastructure Committee decided Monday, Sept. 30 to advance to a discussion of the full council a proposal to tweak the number of parking spaces slated for the renovated Water Street.
The Water Street plans include eight parking spaces currently. Chip Holmes, a resident of Oneonta, said they city could fit four more if angled was used.
“It would be beneficial to have angled parking instead of straight parking on Water Street before it gets paved,” Holmes said.
“The more parking we can have, even if it’s only four more spots, the better.”
Crews began removing curbing and brick pavers on Water Street as part of the next phase of the Market Street construction plan in Oneonta.
Holmes said that he measured the area using a variety of tools, including a yardstick, and believed that if the parking was angled, another four spot may be able to be built.
City Administrator Greg Mattice said that the width of the street has already been considered.
“We can look into this and bring it to the council, but it may be too late in the game based on the sequence of construction underway,” Mattice said.
The next steps in the construction plans on Water Street call for new granite curbs and streetlight bases to be installed at the northwest corner of the road from the Yellow Deli to the east on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Preparations for sidewalks are slated to begin Monday, Oct. 14, which would take an estimated three days, followed by asphalt pavement during the week of Oct. 21.
“If we can bring this up and consider the changes in parking before the pavement goes in, I think we should try,” Holmes said.
Scott Harrington, R-Sixth Ward, said that any additional parking would be a good thing.
“If it’s possible to consider this before the pavement, then we will need to bring this to the council,” he said.
Elayne Mosher Campoli, D-First Ward and Cecelia Walsh-Russo, unaffiliated-Second Ward, agreed to consider the idea of parking changes while the Water Street construction sequence is still underway.
“This will be a decision for the council,” Harrington said.
“We can bring it up as a discussion item. More parking on Water (Street) is under the gun in terms of timing, but maybe it will save us money.”
“It is definitely late in the game, but we should try to get what we want,” he added.
According to the construction plan, directional signage and striping would take place after the asphalt is completed, followed by adding landscaping and benches, which the plans show will be on the south side of the roadway.
The anticipated completion for all of the work on Water Street is scheduled for mid-November.