Lawmakers and State Employees Want Parking

For years, lawmakers have complained about the lack of parking at the statehouse.

It's either hard to find, they say, or too far away, especially in winter.

And since many are senior citizens, walking a few blocks over snow and ice matters.

But Administrative Services Commissioner Don Hill says state employees also need parking spots.

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1:32 last year the city of Concord went up 50 cents an hour for parking. If they are here eight hours, and an hour for lunch, that's 9 hours. Some state employees are having to pay for. The union is starting to look at this as a question for equal pay for equal work....State employees work on Hazen Dr. or state hospital grounds you get street parking. So there is a big distinction. $20-25 dollars a week is noticeable to employees. So we feel we have to do something to address that.

Hill was speaking to the Capital Budget Oversight Committee- made up of House and Senate lawmakers.

After a year and a half of planning, Hill and others unveiled their parking master plan to the group.

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:08 I am Gordon Leady, landscape architect with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin and we are the lead planners....

1:38 you can see that it's virtually surrounded by very important civic structures...city hall, statehouse...executive office building....it's a very important sight from a visual perspective and visually.

Leady explained theirs was a two phase plan.

The first calls for the demolition of a building currently housing the Attorney General's Office and a local bank.

It would be then be replaced with a comparable office building and 432-space parking garage.

In addition, one street would be closed off to cars and converted into a pedestrian walkway.

Phase two would replace a parking lot and eight commercial properties with a parking garage for 444 vehicles and a nearly 50 thousand sq. foot office building.

Then came the price tag.

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9:08 Phase 1 cost that we had identified is $20.6. Phase 2 cost is 17.5 for a grand total of $40.1 million dollars.

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:09 the proposal kind of morphed over the last couple of years.

Capital Budget Oversight Committee Chair Gene Chandler.

.... this has moved into building a new department of justice building...my own opinion of it, it won't fly through the Legislature. It's going to be very hard to ask for extra money...we have millions more in requests than we do in money, and to say here's another 20-40 million for the Legislative parking garage isn't going to work.

Chandler says it's time to get back to the basics.

The state, he said, needs a parking garage. That's it.

1:23 I think we should go over on the Green St. lot, build a 444 space parking garage, have the 50-60 ground spaces that should be there b/c the office building wouldn't be built...I think that's something that keeps it under a 10 million dollar cost, maybe 8 million. And I think would fly probably in the Legislature. I don't know, but I think the other thing is a little too majestic.

But what is simple to Representative Chandler would be complicated for the city.

Matt Walsh, Concord's community development project manager says the city is waiting for the state's proposal.

And he points out the government does not need local approval to complete a project.

But Walsh adds the city and state have a good working relationship.

He says the thought of developing the Green St. lot isn't so appealing.

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1:38 ... b/c number 1, you are getting more into a transition area from an urban area, to the west which is more residential....The other thing is, to do the project at Green and School, there would have to be some property takings....I think the last number is about 2 million dollars in property value that would come off the tax rolls.

Walsh says the city considered developing a parking garage in the same spot about ten years ago.

The plan fell through due to residents concerns that it would ruin the neighborhood.

Judging from the quick conversation between Oversight Committee Chair Chandler and Concord Senator Sylvia Larsen, Chandler's suggestion could travel a rocky road in the statehouse.

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1:13 would you like to live in an apartment that backs up to a 3-story parking garage with lights all night long?...I can't believe representatives from Concord would stand in the way of businesses getting 200 parking spaces on Storrs.

That's the carrot part of the deal.

The state would hand over its current parking lot on to the city for commercial parking.
Concord state Representative Candace Bouchard says there's a long way to go before any final plans are put in place.

She asks, why not a shuttle service.

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3:19 ...Perhaps we should be looking at a parking facility down at Stickney Ave...and maybe doing a shuttle service. That will not only provide service for the state, but city employees and the business community. We are keeping cars out of our center, we are not builidng an expensive parking garage.

State officials plan to meet with the Concord City Council later this summer.

If construction ever begins, it would not happen until July 2007.

For NHPR News, I'm DG.