Staff Writer

ONEONTA — With a $20,000 downtown parking study under way, city officials say they want public input to guide them.

The city's count of its consistently full lots, input from Main Street business owners and the prospect of further downtown economic development was behind the decision to order the study.

Transportation Concepts of Schenectady will conduct a public meeting at 4 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

The study, which began this week, will look at the parking situation — how the available spaces are used and by whom. Strategies for managing existing parking and suggestions for additional parking will also be included.

City Engineering Administrator Joseph Bernier cited the proposed construction of a $17 million performing arts center on Market Street and an anticipated influx of businesses to Main Street office space as reasons for the study. In preparation, the city's engineering department surveyed the central business district for the amount and type of parking available, Bernier said.

According to the report, there are 832 public, off-street parking spaces. These numbers represent spaces in the parking garage, the Westcott lot off Lower Main Street and the Dietz Street parking lot. There are also 240 on-street parking spaces, and another 891 private, off-street spaces.

Dennis O'Malley, executive director of Transportation Concepts said input from building owners and residents will give his firm an idea of what the most pressing parking concerns are.

He said initial findings indicate that the 270-space Dietz Street municipal lot is almost always full on weekdays, while some spaces in the three-level parking garage, off the Chestnut Street Extension, are vacant.

"Some lots do seem to fill up fairly quickly and others don't, and we don't know why yet," O'Malley said.

Norma Carman of Westford said she has never used the municipal parking garage because of safety concerns.

"I don't go in there because I'm afraid," Carman said. "It's not even an option for me."

City officials — cognizant of the perception that the dimly lit garage is not safe — are using grant money to add lighting, security cameras and other cosmetic improvements to its interior.

Mary Snider, a Clinton Street resident, said parking is not a problem for her because she walks almost everywhere she goes.

"Because I've lived in bigger cities where it's a bigger problem and because I walk so much, it's not a problem for me," Snider said, "but if enough people think it is, it should be studied."

Consideration will also be made for the drastic shift in population that happens with the influx of college students, O'Malley said.

Between 6,500 and 7,000 college students arrive each September to start the semester at Hartwick College and the State University College at Oneonta.

Transportation Concepts has done studies on other college towns. O'Malley pointed out Troy — where Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is — as an example.

But Oneonta, he said, is unique in that many more college students appear to live off-campus.

"On the face of it, I don't see the number of students living in Troy as what we've seen initially in Oneonta," he said. "Also, there are more available parking spaces in Troy.

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Jill Fahy can be reached at jfahy@thedailystar.com or (607) 441-7221.