For a downtown plagued by a lack of parking, the potential loss of 16 spaces is not good news.
“It would definitely be detrimental to our business because there’s not enough parking now,” said Diana Renouf, owner of The Scrapping Post.
A 1973 lease agreement which allowed Oxford Village to use a parcel of land in the downtown’s northwest quadrant as a free public parking lot has been terminated.
The parcel (circled above) is located between the Healthy Smile Center (9 N. Washington St.) and Sisters Hair Care (19 N. Washington St.).
In exchange for using the parcel as free parking for three decades, the village accepted “all obligations and responsibilities. . .including, but not limited to tax obligations, lighting, sweeping and snow removal.”
A Nov. 24 letter from the property’s owner, Nathan Grove, informed the village the “parking lot lease is terminated.”
“The effective date of the termination will be 90 days from the date this notice is received in accordance with the terms of the lease,” Grove wrote.
Grove told this reporter he’s in the process of selling the parcel to local developer Charles Schneider.
On Friday, Grove said he anticipated closing on the sale this week.
Schneider told this reporter he has “no plans at this time” regarding the property’s future use.
The parcel could remain parking, if the village were to “renegotiate” a lease agreement for it, Schneider noted. “It’s a possibility,” he said.
The potential loss of 16 parking spaces in the northwest quadrant could have a negative impact on the area.
The northwest quadrant currently has the “least amount of existing parking” of all four downtown parking quadrants, according to the “Oxford Functional Area Plan for Downtown Parking and Pedestrian Circulation” approved in 2002.
A total of 66 existing parking spaces and 11 street spaces (those located on N. Washington St.) serve the quadrant.
According to the parking and circulation plan, a minimum of 129 spaces is required to adequately serve the quadrant, meaning it currently has a “parking deficit” of 52 spaces.
Any loss of existing spaces would increase that deficit.
Manager Mark Slown noted that if Schneider chose to develop that site, “there’s not enough parking (in the quadrant) to support another business.”
Because the northwest quadrant is part of a “parking exempt district,” new development there does not require the addition of more parking, Slown added.
Slown said the village has no plans at this time to take any action regarding the parking property.
Some northwest quadrant business owners expressed their concerns about the possibility of losing that parking area.
“With the small quantity of parking spaces for this quadrant, losing those 16 spaces would greatly hurt us as far as parking goes,” said Suzanne Ardelan, owner of Curves for Women.
“We all park there,” said Ardelan referring to her clientele and staff. “Because M-24 is so hard to get in and out of, most of my customers park in the back lot. So we use that (parcel) continually.”
“I’m concerned especially if (the new owner) builds a multi-level (there), like a two-story with businesses, it would put more stress (on the existing parking),” she said. “I know the village doesn’t have any action plan (to increase the number of spaces) for this quadrant right now.”
“It would be nice to see them renegotiate a lease and repave (the parcel), get rid of the water holes,” Ardelan said.
Renouf said, “We have to have that parking. It’s a definite must.”
“Those parking spots are all taken, every day. It’s full all the time,” Renouf said. In addition to the businesses, “the people that live upstairs in those apartments count on having them too.”
“It’s convenient to have (the spaces) on the side, so when the ladies leave here with their stuff, they don’t have to walk clear across the parking lot with all their bags,” she added.
Renouf said she’d like to see the village either try to negotiate a lease with the new owner or buy it if possible.
“At least a lease,” she said.