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Several Lexington business owners and residents gathered in the community room at the old courthouse building last Wednesday to offer feedback regarding the proposed removal of two parking spaces in front of Courthouse Square as part of the planned renovation of the square. While many of those in attendance were supportive of the renovation as a whole, most were opposed to the removal of the parking spaces.
“It just seems like at every turn there’s more parking spaces going away,” said Suzanne Mayerchak, CEO of Walkabout Outfitters. “We need every single customer we can possibly get, and parking spaces are more valuable to us than anything.
“I don’t think that keeping these parking spaces here is going to make that space less attractive or less used,” she added. “It’s going to be beautiful at the end, no matter what. I think it’s going to encourage people to go … but I think both can be accomplished with keeping those parking spaces. I don’t think it’s going to deter people from using that space at all.”
She also expressed concerns for the safety of pedestrians and people gathering in the square for events if there isn’t a buffer between them and the traffic on Main Street.
“If traffic is going right by there and there’s no buffer of parking spaces or sidewalk, then that could possibly cause extra danger to pedestrians and people hanging out there,” she said.
Lexington City Manager Tom Carroll explained that the plan is to install raised planters and removeable bollards in order to provide some additional buffer.
Shelia Glaeser, who owns Violet Consignment on Randolph Street, pointed out that there would still be a lot of parking available in the business district, even with the removal of the two parking spaces in front of Courthouse Square.
She noted that the lot on Varner Lane below Randolph Street, which contains 12-hour parking, often had a number of empty parking spaces, in part due to limited signage to let visitors to town know that it is there. She added that, if there was concern over that lot being at the bottom of a hill, there was an elevator in the nearby courthouse parking garage which could take people up to Nelson Street.
“I don’t really have a strong opinion either way about removing these two spots, but it’s not the end of the world,” she said. “Everybody wants Lexington to be pristine, everybody wants Lexington to be beautiful and perfect, and they’re really into the optics and how it looks. If removing two spots will make this green space prettier, I’m for it. But if it’s going to take money away from a merchant … I’m on the fence. I just don’t think it’s going to make that big of a difference.”
Tina Miller, owner of Walkabout Outfitters, disagreed with Glaeser’s assessment.
“Perception is reality,” she said. “People are funny. They don’t want to walk a block. Two spots are very, very valuable because perception is reality.”
One proposal was for the city to close the two parking spots in question temporarily and see if that would indeed help improve the view for pedestrians. Carroll told The News-Gazette on Tuesday that he has reached out to the city’s police and public works departments about closing those spots next Monday through Wednesday.
At the start of the meeting Carroll announced that the project did not receive the $1 million Virginia 250 Preservation Fund grant that would have covered the majority of the funding for the project, adding that the project organizers were “regrouping” to figure out fundraising options.
