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Havre de Grace, county to split cost of keeping parking lot open
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Spray paint outlines a section of a parking lot that will stay open following a deal between Havre de Grace and Harford County. “It’s going to put an unbelievable hardship on this town,” says Dan Lee, owner and general manager of MacGregor’s Restaurant, on Monday of the work that will close a large section of his parking lot. – Arianne Starnes/Examiner
Havre de Grace, Md. (Map, News) - Havre de Grace and Harford County will split the cost of keeping a busy downtown parking lot open during nearby construction, under a settlement reached in court Monday.
Havre de Grace Mayor Wayne Dougherty issued a stop-work order last week and had city workers tear down fencing cutting through the center of the waterfront parking lot off St. John Street. The lot had been closed as the county expands the nearby water treatment plant. The county took Havre de Grace to court Wednesday to reverse the order, but they reached a compromise Monday afternoon.
The two parties will split the $172,000 cost to fence the construction area off again, allowing a 10- to 12-foot-wide lane for cars to pass through, and creating another eight parking spaces, said Margaret Harka, senior assistant county attorney. Workers will park construction equipment down the block at David Craig Park.
Downtown business owners rely on the lot, which was crowded even when it was completely open during the peak tourist season in summer.
“Once the court stuff is over and these compromises have been made, we need to sit down with the county and the city and see what they can do for us,” said Dan Lee, owner of MacGregor’s Restaurant. He estimated closing the lot could cost the city as much as $12,000 a day in lost business.
Lee and others proposed a map guiding tourists to parking, and valet service around town. The government should pick up the $7-per-car tab, said Bill Watson, president of Havre de Grace Main Street Inc. The organization also asked to be part of future planning and get frequent updates on the project to help minimize its impact on Main Street’s bottom line.
“This is a seasonal town. We can lose money all winter and make up for it in the summer,” said Ralph Shapot, co-owner of the Tidewater Grille. “For them to do this right when we start to break even, then tell us we won’t have the lot for two seasons … will cut us off at the knees.”
The expanded water plant is expected to take up two of the three rows of parking currently on the lot.
“If anything good came out of this, it’s that it highlighted the parking problems we already have downtown,” Watson said.
msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com
