Huntington Supervisor Frank P. Petrone announces that Phase 1 of the Gerard Street municipal parking lot reconstruction project is essentially complete and that the portion of the lot closed since mid-July has reopened for use during the Fall Festival and the Columbus Day Parade.
Paving and road striping were completed earlier this week and the lighting was installed on Friday, October 10, leaving landscaping and finishing touches on the brick plaza as tasks remaining to be done.
“With the major work complete, and with the remaining work not affecting safety, it makes sense to reopen this portion of the lot, freeing up 146 parking spaces on a weekend when so much is going on in Huntington village,” Supervisor Petrone said. “I appreciate the efforts of our Town employees, general contractor Kings Park Industries and the subcontractors in bringing this phase to completion slightly ahead of schedule so the spaces are available at a time of high demand. I also thank the Gerard Street businesses for their patience and understanding during this process.”
Phase 1, which began in mid-July, encompassed two-thirds of the lot and included resurfacing the lot for increased safety, installing a bioswale system to facilitate drainage and reconfiguring the lot to add spaces. The project also created a plaza area in front of businesses that face the parking lot. Phase 2 will entail the same components for the 77 spaces that were kept open during Phase 1. It is expected to begin next week and continue into early December. When Phase 2 begins, the shuttle between Mill Dam Park and Huntington Village will cease operation. The shuttle, established to encourage employees to park at Mill Dam during the construction, had been sparsely used.
In another development involving parking in Huntington Village, Supervisor Petrone said that the demonstration project providing free valet parking on Friday and Saturday in a portion of the municipal lot between New and Green Streets will end October 31.
The decision not to continue the service at the end of the demonstration period came at a meeting of the parking consortium that has been considering possible solutions to the parking issues in Huntington Village. Consortium members – the Town, the Town of Huntington Economic Development Corp., the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, the Huntington Village Business Improvement District and the Paramount Theater – joined to fund the pilot program and concluded the reopening of the spaces on the Gerard Street lot obviated the need for the valets. .
“The Town will continue its effort to identify and try innovative solutions to address the parking situation in Huntington village, in cooperation with our parking consortium partners,” Supervisor Petrone said.