North Castle to Tackle Downtown Armonk Parking Crunch
North Castle officials plan to explore several options to increase parking in downtown Armonk to alleviate the growing demand for spaces in the heart of the hamlet’s business district.
Last week the town board rekindled discussion about the possibility of converting about an acre of municipal property across the brook at the end of Kent Place and the area behind the Hergenhan Recreation Center into additional parking.
The board instructed Director of Planning Adam Kaufman to begin the process of conducting a study to determine whether the Kent Place land, the more challenging of the two sites, would be feasible to turn into a parking area. A culvert would likely need to be built to traverse the brook plus there are town regulated wetlands, Kaufman said.
In addition, the town will once again inquire whether Verizon may be interested in selling the company’s downtown lot, an issue that has been raised repeatedly over the years.
“The whole idea is to be able to provide some additional flexibility for the redevelopment downtown,” Kaufman said at the board’s Feb. 12 work session where he encouraged the board to consider the two town-owned parcels for parking. “So if we have a good understanding of what can be built, how much it’s going to cost, it doesn’t mean we need to build it right away, and we’ll know how much to charge for space.”
There was no mention of how many additional spaces are needed, a number that still needs to be determined. Kaufman estimated that the Hergenhan site would probably yield at least 50 spaces but did not provide a ballpark figure for the Kent Place parcel.
Installation of meters is one method the town could use to pay for enhanced parking. Another option is to charge business owners a fee in lieu of required off-site parking. For every off-street space a merchant is unable to provide under the town code, they would pay a flat fee into a fund that could be used to turn Kent Place or the Hergenhan Recreation Center into a parking area, Kaufman said.
“The ultimate goal is to make that longer term parking, parking for merchants, and that would have the benefit of freeing up more spaces on the west side of Main Street for the convenience of shoppers,” said Kaufman.
As part of the search for more parking and a mechanism to finance it, officials said they will also reach out to property owners on the west side of Main Street to once again gauge interest in forming a parking district using the two town-owned parcels or the current parking lot behind the stores. Under a parking district, the property owners would pay for the creation and upkeep of a common lot.
Kaufman acknowledged that in the past the district has not received good reviews from Main Street property owners.
Owners of at least 51 percent of the assessed valuation on the west side of Main Street between Kent Place and Maple Avenue would need to sign a petition to create a parking district, said Town Attorney Roland Baroni. The town board could also approve a resolution on its own but it would be subject to a permissive referendum, he said.
“The bottom line is either way it’s the property owners who control whether they have a taxing district in place,” Baroni said. “You can’t force it upon them.”
While downtown Armonk parking has been a recurring issue for merchants and shoppers for decades, the opening of Armonk Square last year has focused the spotlight on the need to create more spaces.
Councilman Jose Berra said it appears to him that it is more difficult now to find parking on Main Street.
“When I drive down Main Street it’s a lot harder to get a space and that makes you think about what else we need to do, and that makes me think if we can do the west side of behind the stores that may be good,” Berra said.
Planning Board member Christopher Carthy said with the recent application of Amore Pizza, which moved to Kent Place, it highlighted the parking situation facing the town and the poor condition of that street. He said a parking c
“One of the things that concerns me about the parking right now on Kent Place is that it’s discouraging people from parking there,” Carthy said “It’s seedy. It’s not as attractive as it should be. It seems sometimes grungy.”
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
