By Scott MacKeen
Contributor
7/31/08

(previous)
Approximately 38 parking spaces will be available at the Falconi building on neighboring Franklin Street and additional spaces are proposed at the East Congregational Church on Adams Street. The locations have approved the use of their lots during evening hours, according to Welch.
A special permit issued by the Appeals Board stipulates that the restaurant must offer no less than 40 parking spaces at all hours of operation. Planning Board member Alex Whiteside questioned whether this could be done.
“The Falconi spots won’t be available in the daytime,” he said at the meeting, adding that parking along Adams Street is already hard to find during the day. He said that valet parking—which Welch has proposed—would necessitate additional parking.
“You’re making a bad situation worse” by proposing more parking around the square during the day, added Whiteside.
Planning Board member Ed Duffy, a Granite Place resident, said that abutters to the church had not been notified that the lot would be used and that he had only learned about it six days before the meeting.
“I’m very upset,” he said about not being told that the church was being considered for restaurant parking.
“I live in this area and walk by this location every day. I had to walk around and ask my neighbors if they knew about it, and they had no idea,” he said.
Robert Foster, a deacon at the church, said he supports the restaurant but said that the parking measures had been poorly planned.
“I have nothing against the restaurant,” he said. “I can’t wait until it opens. But I think you’re going to find a large group of people against (using the church lot).”
Foster suggested utilizing spaces along Granite Avenue during evening hours instead.
“The concept of the restaurant is great,” said another resident, who supports the project but questions parking availability along Adams Street and at the Falconi building.
Bob Sheffield, an attorney representing Welch, said that plans to make church parking available would likely be scrapped if opposition remains.
“I think the message has been sent loud and clear. Now we have an opportunity to go back to the Board of Appeals (to reconsider some parking strategies),” he said.
He cited the Citizens and Sovereign banks on Adams Street as potential alternatives.
Sheffield said that further parking information will be forthcoming and that he hopes the Planning Board would approve the project at its Thursday, Aug. 14, meeting.
He said he hopes the restaurant will be open before the end of the year.
“Those last few months of the year are key,” he said.
Whiteside questioned whether a decision in August is possible.
“If solutions are on the table, I’m sure we could reach some conclusion. But if these questions remain unanswered, I don’t see that happening,” he said.
Some residents expressed concern about using business lots for restaurant parking, saying it could further tighten traffic around what many feel is an already overcrowded square.
Ann Harrington, whose elderly parents live on Bassett Street not far from the proposed restaurant, called the parking situation “already atrocious” in the square, saying that increased parking along Adams Street would clog up side roads as restaurant traffic comes and goes.
“It has just gotten worse and worse over the years,” she said of square parking. “People park in front of (my parents) house and stay there all day. It’s not right.”