In an ill-advised and misguided effort to “redevelop” downtown Westbrook, the city on March 27 invited “qualified firms to submit proposals to redevelop one (or more) of three surface parking lots owned by the city in downtown Westbrook.” These three surface parking lots are: One, the parking lot between Bank of America and TD Bank; two, the parking lot on Church Street next to the Westbrook Warren Church; three, the parking lot on the other side of Church Street.
The city set a deadline of April 25 for proposed conceptual plans for these proposals. Two private developers and the Westbrook Housing Authority responded with proposals.
If the city permits these free open parking lots to be built on, these parking lots will be destroyed and the motoring public will have to find other parking if they want to do business in downtown Westbrook.
The downtown businesses depend on these critical parking lots for parking for customers, employees and service vendors.
Urban renewal came to Westbrook in the 1960s and 1970s and transformed downtown Westbrook. Two great legacies came out of urban renewal to make downtown Westbrook uniquely inviting to the public: One, the construction of William Clarke Drive, formerly Wayside Drive, which is now a parallel Main Street to our existing Main Street; and two, free open parking lots strategically located in the downtown area close and convenient to all of the downtown businesses.
These two great legacies attract folks from all over to come and visit downtown all year round. Combined with downtown entertainment and a Christmas lights display second to none, the downtown has prospered and grown to be vibrant and attractive to many.
With the multiple free open parking lots, Westbrook delivers the best possible parking experience: close proximity to businesses and restaurants; simple, easy accessibility for everyone, including the elderly and disabled; availability of parking spaces during the day and evening; and, the lots are well-maintained, plowed and well-lit.
The apparent reason for this initiative is to provide more housing downtown. However, more housing is already happening on a large scale in Westbrook by private developers on private lots and by the Westbrook Housing Authority on Housing Authority land. There are a litany of housing projects planned and approved to be built in Westbrook which do not destroy vital and critical public assets such as parking lots.
The tradeoff in the destruction of these public parking lots is too great for the minimal gain of housing that these lots would provide.
A well-managed city balances all of the interests of its citizens and listens to the public. The city administration and the City Council need to listen to Westbrook residents about this issue. They serve us, not the other way around.
By the way, the new parking garage will be challenging for many members of the public with mobility issues and others will not use it for personal security reasons.
Do you remember Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi”?
My version of the second verse of that song goes like this: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone? They put up buildings and took away our parking lots.”
Let’s save these precious public assets before it is too late.
Join me at a public forum at Westbrook Warren Church, Fellowship Hall, 810 Main St., on Tuesday, Aug. 22, at 5:30 p.m. for an exchange of views and more information about this initiative.
Andrew Broaddus is an attorney working and living in Westbrook.
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