(IPS Group stock photo).
Cortland officials are hoping to implement a new electronic parking system in the city’s downtown area before college students return in the fall, said Cortland mayor Scott Steve on Tuesday.
A new local law adopted by the Cortland Common Council at Tuesday’s meeting will help to get the process rolling in the city.
The Common Council passed a local law – in relation to parking regulations and authority thereof in the city of Cortland – that revises chapter 11 of the city code. It “outlines the parking regulation and enforcement provisions, including that of public parking lots,” according to the resolution from Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
The local law helps to keep the city code consistent with the city’s parking plan, according to Tuesday’s meeting resolution.
“It gives the council the regulatory authority to adjust and modify (parking regulations) as needed,” said corporation counsel AJ Meldrim at Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s one of simplicity and clarity.”
A breakdown of the city’s new local law can be viewed on pages 9 to 11 of Tuesday’s meeting agenda.
“This gives us the opportunity to correct what’s been wrong and what’s been built in layers and layers,” Steve said. “It gives us the short-term approach to be able to adjust it.”
A public hearing was held prior to the Common Council adopting the new local law. Denise Feinstein (of the Hollywood Restaurant on Groton Avenue) and Carol Corbin (A district office director for Assemblywoman Anna Kelles (D-Ithaca) in Cortland) spoke during the hearing:
Denise Feinstein (of the Hollywood Restaurant on Groton Ave in Cortland) spoke during the public hearing on Tuesday. (Photo provided by Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
Carol Corbin (District office director for Assemblywoman Anna Kelles (D-Ithaca) in Cortland) spoke during the public hearing on Tuesday. (Photo provided by Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
Meldrim noted odd/even parking in the city’s municipal parking areas will “theoretically go away.” The new parking system, he added, will continue the issuing of permits.
Details on the parking fees, the outline of the parking system’s districts and more will be determined at a future Common Council meeting.
City of Cortland Corporation Counsel AJ Meldrim speaks at Tuesday's Common Council meeting. (Photo provided by Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
“Things will need to be adjusted from time to time,” Meldrim said, noting the Common Council will make adjustments to municipal parking as they see fit.
Eric Mulvihill, the economic development/community relations specialist at the Cortland County Business Development Corporation, has assisted the city in laying out the parking situation in Cortland. This has been more so with the city’s ongoing Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) projects, Mulvihill said.
Mulvihill mentioned that the city has a “fair amount of parking assets,” but the resolution assists in keeping the parking areas “well-managed.”
“Everybody wants to park exactly where they want to go,” Mulvihill said. “That leads to some disproportionately more used than other lots.”
Eric Mulvihill, economic development/community relations specialist for the Cortland County Business Development Corporation, speaks at Tuesday's Common Council meeting. (Photo provided by Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
Mulvihill noted the new local law will help to manage parking resources to “support folks living and working downtown.”
“It’s a good step to start walking before we start running,” Mulvihill said.
Details on the city’s future electronic parking system can be viewed by clicking here.
Below is a recording of Meldrim and Mulvihill’s discussion with the Common Council on the new parking regulations law at Tuesday’s meeting
