Where is everyone going to park?

Guess I should've waited until I got to the end of the audio from the planning board meeting before I hit the "insert blog" button.

At the end of the planning board meeting last Wednesday, Tom Lawson got up (well, he said he got up, I was home with bronchitis and didn’t see whether he actually stood up) and asked a question.

"I have 22 businesses that want to move into downtown Tupper Lake on Park Street, plus a hotel,” Lawson said. “Where are they going to park? Who's problem is that?"

He said it's a good problem to have.

But almost every store on Park Street spoken for, and the second floors are going quickly too, he said.

"That is a real-live question that has to be looked at," said planning board Chairman Jim Larkin.

Town Councilwoman Patty Littlefield asked what actual public parking spots there are in the area, and people starting listing them. There aren’t a ton.

Planning board member Don Dew noted that it’s an important consideration when the state Department of Transportation is considering changes to the intersection of Park and Mill streets, most of which would cut out some of the existing Park Street parking.

Fred Schuller asked why everyone is always worried about parking.

“You’re not going to stop all the businesses from coming in because of parking,” Schuller said.

Lawson said they’re looking at free valet parking for some of their businesses, but he said that might not work for all the businesses.

I just want to note here that in general, I’m not reporting on the number of businesses that people are saying are hoping to come into Tupper Lake. There’s a lot of incentive for people to inflate those numbers, and until things can be proven and I have actual people who will talk about their plans to open a restaurant or whatever on Park Street, I’m not reporting it. When Lawson is getting actual building permits and doing actual work, that’s worth reporting. I just wanted to note that that’s why I probably wouldn’t include that 22 number in any stories I print in the paper. But I’m directly quoting him here and making note of all that, so I feel OK using it here.

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