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Placid OKs ‘hybrid’ spots, station lot

LAKE PLACID – Another village board meeting, another evening heavy on parking concerns, discussion and new solutions for Lake Placid’s parking-strapped downtown.

At Tuesday’s board meeting at the village Beach House, the village board made two moves to help alleviate parking concerns in the village while also hearing the concern of a resident of one of the village’s side streets.

“Hybrid” parking

The board approved the creation of 20 “Hybrid” parking spaces for overflow at the Upper NBT Bank parking lot near the middle of Main Street. The lot has 82 total spaces, and before Tuesday’s decision 62 of those were metered and 20 were for yearly permit holders, in a location dubbed “The Corral.”

The recommendation the board approved will take 20 of the metered spots in that lot and allocate them as “hybrid,” meaning they can be used by yearly permit holders or by those paying through the meter – not for hybrid vehicles. The 20 previous permit spots still remain, the change meaning there are now 42 permit-only spots in the popular lot.

Fifteen of the hybrid spots will be located along the right-hand wall of the lot after the hill where cars pull in. Another five spots will be located along the fence barrier of The Corral. After some discussion about how the new hybrid spots may be confusing, the board agreed to post individual parking signs at each of the 20 spots. Village Mayor Craig Randall said the change would go into effect when the signage is posted, as soon as within the next couple of weeks, as Randall said it would take about a week for the village to receive the signs after Public Works Superintendent Brad Hathaway placed an order for them.

“We accomplished what the merchants and the business people have asked for on the street – we opened up some (storefront) spaces,” Randall said. “But the reality is, we learned a little bit more about how the permit people were using them, or disregarding the terms of their permit by parking in the metered spaces. So this is a way of trying to accommodate both (sides). I think it’s reasonable.”

“It’s a good start,” Deputy Mayor Art Devlin said.

Train station lot

The board also approved Tuesday a license agreement that will enable the village to advertise up to 200 parking spots at the parking lot located next to the Lake Placid-North Elba Historical Society on Station Street.

With more frequent Placid Xprss trolley service this summer, the option of parking at the train station and taking the trolley to Main Street is one the mayor has routinely suggested in recent weeks to those looking for a free way to park. The license agreement effectively opens up the lot officially for this, pending the expected approval of the license agreement in the coming days from the Historical Society.

Randall estimated there are 175 to 200 parking spots at the Station Street lot.

Along with the public parking, the license agreement outlines the vacant parcel of land owned by the Historical Society as a hub for the Placid Xprss trolley service. The agreement is yearly, effective Tuesday, pending the Historical Society’s approval, and would renew automatically in subsequent years. The agreement also outlines no license fees or rental charges for the village to pay, as the village will provide staffing, maintenance, plowing, the installation of a porta-potty and the placement of trash receptacles.

With its new summer 2016 Placid Xprss schedule, the trolley now stops at the Station Street depot 14 times between 7:13 a.m. and 1:54 p.m.

Thursday through Saturday, the service also stops four more times between 2:34 p.m. and 4:46 p.m.

And between 4:50 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, the trolley operates 20-to-30 minute loops between the train station and Traditions Plaza on Saranac Avenue.

Though the schedule has been improved, Randall said use has not increased.

“We have been running a 15-minute schedule there now for two weeks, since we started the program,” Randall said. “And the number of people that are using it for parking: zero.”

Hillcrest concerns

The village also received a letter of concern from Lake Placid-resident David Zabriskie about traffic concerns on Hillcrest Avenue. A resident of Hayes Street, Zabriskie described the parking situation on Hillcrest from Elm Street to Saranac Avenue as one that has “gotten out of hand,” attaching photos of cars parked on each side of Hillcrest near Maple Avenue, making it difficult and potentially unsafe for cars to drive through.

“When the many area vacation rentals are busy and booked with guests, it is almost impossible to navigate that part of Hillcrest,” Zabriskie wrote in his letter.

“One of the possibilities for Hillcrest might be for signs we could put right there that would say no parking from here to the corner,” Randall said.

“That would address the intersection part, anyway,” trustee Scott Monroe said.

“But at this point, we’re getting the idea that there are lots of cars and not a lot of parking spaces,” Randall responded. “And people are creative and try to go where they can.”

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