The widely anticipated repaving of the Locust Avenue Lot likely will take place next summer instead of this year, as originally planned, officials say.
First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said during an update to the Parking Commission at the appointed body’s most recent meeting that he had “thought it was going to get done in August, but I don’t think it’s going to get done in August” now.
Saying he was concerned about “people’s need for parking,” Moynihan told the Commission during its July 11 meeting that the work will involve “re-architecting” the lot.
“They are going to redo the lot,” Moynihan said at the meeting, held in Town Hall.
The town’s budget for the current fiscal year includes a $500,000 item for “parking lot construction” that had been thought to go toward the heavily used and deteriorating permit-and-meter parking lot next to the Post Office. Earlier this year, public works officials said that the repaving project could end up more expensive than originally planned if, when the town starts to dig up the area, it runs into the demolished, buried remains buildings that used to stand there.
Thought nearly three years ago to be right for an estimated $4 million decking job, the lot is to be removed and replaced during a single estimated two-month period, public works officials have said.
To “really do it right,” the replacement project at Locust Avenue Lot would require the digging up and removal of any unstable material beneath the pavement, Moynihan said.
Commissioner Pam Crum asked whether there will be room at the Center School Lot for Locust permit-holders temporarily displaced during the work.
Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg said, “Yes, there is definitely room there.”
“We will figure it out beforehand and let everybody know,” she said.