Portsmouth grappling with removal of parking spaces to upgrade downtown streetscape

PORTSMOUTH — The city’s Parking, Traffic and Safety Committee voted to conduct a site visit to determine whether five High Street parking spots should be eliminated as part of developer Mark McNabb’s proposed downtown roadway, streetscape and utility improvements.

The City Council previously granted concept approval to McNabb’s offer to pay for what he estimates could be several millions of dollars in upgrades to the streetscapes along High and Ladd streets, along with Haven Court as part of his redevelopment of 1 Congress St.

The project would include upgrading the aging and, in some cases, failing infrastructure under city streets.

The plan includes widening sidewalks, adding decorative lights and sprucing up the landscaping and removing five existing parking spaces on High Street.

McNabb said he wants to remove the spots to widen sidewalks on the street, create a wider road for emergency vehicles and create one uniform level of road and sidewalk to improve pedestrian walkability.

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The council referred the proposed removal of the five spots to the committee, which discussed the idea at length Thursday, before deciding to continue its discussions and hold the yet-to-be scheduled site walk.

McNabb: Losing spots will mean safer road, better walkability

The proposed improvements — along with McNabb’s already approved 1 Congress St. mixed-use project — are located close to the city’s High-Hanover parking garage. Some city leaders have talked about the importance of preserving the spaces.

During a recent committee meeting, McNabb stated he thinks “that this isn’t really an issue of taking spaces away when spaces for crying out loud take both sides of every freaking street downtown.”

“I view it much different than I’m hearing (about) these sacred spaces,” he said. “I encourage you to eliminate these five spaces, I encourage the committee to think about … eliminating far more spaces so that we can deal with our trash downtown.”

New loading zone on Ladd Street

McNabb said the proposed improvements call for creating a loading zone on Ladd Street.

That zone could be converted to three parking spaces after or before certain hours, and overnight, he said.

The developer acknowledged while he has agreed to pay for and make the improvements, he will not own the land when the project is completed.

“I’m hoping that people will, if they approve this plan and move forward, they wouldn’t turn around six months later after I’m done and put the parking back in,” McNabb said. “But I want this committee to know you can do that.”

He added that “after this is done … there’s no string attached going forward.”

“If your Market Square study comes in five years from now and you want parking all the way down High Street, you can do that,” McNabb said. “I hope that doesn’t happen.”

A pedestrian mall?

City Councilor Andrew Bagley, who chairs the Parking, Traffic and Safety Committee, said he tends “to agree with Mr. McNabb” on the parking spots.

“I hear a lot as a councilor, 'Why don’t we shut down Congress Street, it should be like Burlington, it should be a pedestrian mall?'” Bagley said. “This is a chance to leave Congress Street more or less largely alone and create an adjacent pedestrian mall at the cost of far fewer (parking) spaces.”

Fire chief also wants parking spots removed

Portsmouth Fire Chief Bill McQuillen, who also serves on the committee,, said “by and large these spots were eliminated because of my representatives on the TAC (Technical Advisory Committee).

“That’s also why the sidewalks were lowered as well … because that was part of what we looking for at TAC. We were also looking for some more lighting in that neck of the woods that came out of this project as well,” McQuillen said. “There may be some reluctance to eliminate these parking spots, let me be absolutely crystal clear, the fire department is looking to see those spots disappear from where they sit currently.”

City Department of Public Works director Peter Rice made the motion for the site visit and to continue discussion about the parking spots.

“We think this is a really interesting suggestion, we think there’s some benefits to it, we want to make sure we mitigate the negatives associated with it,” Rice said.

He pointed to the “possibility of relocating the 15 minutes spaces” that are now on High Street, “into Market Square without a major impact.”

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McNabb’s mixed-use project at 1 Congress St. will feature 18 apartments, a restaurant and a view of the iconic North Church.

The project calls for renovating two 1900-era buildings at 1 and 3 Congress St., building an addition where a surface parking lot is currently located and demolishing a small structure.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth weighs removing parking spaces to upgrade downtown streets