Town officials are working on plans to complete long-needed repairs to six parking lots in the downtown Riverhead parking district, at an overall estimated cost of more than $821,000.
Most of the money for the projects would be borrowed, with a portion of the cost paid from parking district reserves and grant funds, as well as a $15,000 contribution by the developer of the Riverview Lofts apartments.
The debt service on the bond, estimated to be about $100,000 per year, would be paid by taxes on properties within the parking district, and not by taxpayers outside the parking district, said Councilman Tim Hubbard, the town board’s liaison to the parking district.
Work on the First Street parking lot — the lot on the north side of East Main Street that stretches from Roanoke Avenue to East Avenue — would include removal of a series of islands and reconfiguring the parking spaces. The changes would add 57 parking spaces to the lot, Hubbard said today, referring to a plan first devised in 2013 by architect and parking district board member Martin Sendlewski. The entire lot would be repaired and repaved. The plan is to complete the project next spring. The total estimated cost of the work is $174,238.
The parking district’s newest lot, on the corner of Roanoke Avenue and Third Street, is an as-yet unpaved, unlit lot on a site purchased from Suffolk County National Bank several years back. It would be paved and striped and lighting would be installed. The total cost of the work on this lot is estimated to be $120,570.
Repairs and repaving of the other parking district lots would carry the following process tags:
Lot adjacent to Griffing Hardware – $79,705
Riverfront lot – $282,067
Lot between Roanoke and Griffing Avenues – $94,744
Lot adjacent to Tuthill’s Funeral Home – $69,725
The town obtained a $75,000 grant from the county for the parking lot work and $30,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds. In addition, Georgica Green, developer of the Riverview Lofts apartment building currently nearing completion on East Main Street and McDermott Avenue, has pledged to contribute $15,000 to the parking district to help fund these projects.
The amount of funds in the parking district reserves — unspent money in the parking district improvement annual budget line — was not completely clear from the discussion at Thursday’s work session. There was $146,000 in the improvement reserve at the end of 2019, financial administrator William Rothaar said. He suggested the board authorize bonding in the full amount of $821,000 and draw down on the bond to the extent needed.
Hubbard said the property owners within the parking district fully support the plans.
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