ALLENTOWN: borough ready to make downtown more accessible

By Jennifer Kohlhepp, Managing Editor
   Parking and walking from place to place downtown is expected to get a whole lot easier soon.
   The Borough Council voted to appropriate $1 million for the first phase of its Historic Streetscape Improvement Project, authorizing the issuance of $950,000 bonds and notes to finance a portion of the costs during its Aug. 13 meeting. The ordinance passed in a 4-1 vote, with Madeline Gavin casting the lone vote against the ordinance. Councilman Robert Schmitt was absent.
   The Historic Streetscape Improvement Project began in 2007-08 when the governing body decided it wanted to provide parking and better pedestrian access downtown.
   ”It was interrupted because of the bridge project,” Mayor Stuart Fierstein said. “We couldn’t have both working simultaneously. Now that it is completed, the streetscape and public pedestrian and vehicle access plan is being bid so the borough can compete its project.”
   The first phase deals primarily with the part of Main Street from the bridge to Church Street.
   The borough has purchased lot 28 to create an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant municipal parking lot with 62 spaces that would have entrances on Waker Street and Lakeview Drive and would be bounded by S. Main Street easterly side businesses. The borough also purchased a small parcel at 9 S. Main Street to fit more parking spaces. The borough received an $180,000 Community Block Development Grant (CBDG) to cover a portion of that project.
   The borough also plans to add crosswalks on Church Street from the municipal lot across from Methodist Church and from Johnson Drive crossing to the Baptist Church. There will also be crosswalks added to S. Main Street north of the new bridge at the mill entrance to Heritage Park and south of the new bridge by the parking lot and park entrance to Lakeview Park. The downtown corridor between Church and Waker streets to the bridge will be improved with new sidewalks, curbing and lighting to match what has been done on bridge.
   ”It will basically have the ability to have benches and would provide all handicapped accessibility from existing handicapped ramps (they will be upgraded to meet current ADA guidelines) and will resolve runoff problems as runoff will be tied to an underground conduit under the sidewalk,” Mayor Fierstein said.
   The project is estimated to cost $1.4 million, of which the borough has received roughly $400,000 in grants. The next phase is to put the project out for bid.
   The mayor said improving pedestrian access and parking downtown would help keep businesses from moving out of Allentown, which causes taxes to go up for the residential community.
   ”The fact is that businesses along S. Main Street depend upon more than just townspeople,” he said. “They have to be able to provide off-street parking.”
   The new lot will provide supplemental parking to the Church Street parking lot, which a lot of people find hard to walk to and from while visiting town.
   ”This parking will be right behind the businesses and will also have a walkway from Lakeview and Waker and walkways between properties,” the mayor said.
   Downtown parking has been a problem for as long as the mayor can remember.
   ”The town is 300-plus years old and wasn’t designed for vehicle parking and truck deliveries,” he said.
   The mayor added that this is the first phase of the Historic Streetscape Project, which can have future phases to revitalize other sections of downtown Allentown.