Stanton residents, upset with parking arrangements at the newly opened St. Bridget’s Lofts, set to meet with developer Gary Jonas to talk it out.
UPDATED 9/18 (videos below): Wow, what a meeting last night, looks like a deal’s been worked out. The neighbors did a great job venting their issues, and the developer owned up to his fair share, and made a good effort to settle what he could as soon as possible.
Started out kinda rocky, though:
Then negotiations started:
Negotiations continue:
How many parking spaces do we need, exactly?
Gary Jonas agrees to pay parking tickets for residents affected by his workers’ sign-switcheroo:
Deal reached, summarized here by Stanton street resident Patrick Inthestripedshirt (didn’t catch his name):
Way to go neighbors and Gary Jonas for DIYing this thing!
ORIGINAL POST:
Big meeting Thursday 9/17 at 6:30 on Stanton street with the neighbors & the developer of St. Bridget’s Loft, Gary Jonas of HOW? Properties.
According to Gary Chlapaty, a Stanton resident who lives mere yards from the St. Bridget’s Lofts, there seem to be three main issues: parking usage, the design of the parking lot, and also the suspicious relocation of parking signs that Gary feels have led to cars being ticketed where they had previously been left alone.
Since we don’t live on Stanton, we don’t pretend to know all the details, but wanted to pass along Gary’s concerns for those who’ve followed the St. Bridget’s Lofts construction. You can contact Gary here for more details.
As for the “other” Gary (Jonas) — we’re seriously impressed he’s meeting personally with the community. While it’s a bummer some neighbors are not thrilled with his new apartment building, it’s certainly a nice thing that everyone’s talking.
Kudos to both Garys for taking steps towards working things out. Fingers crossed both sides will find an understanding. In any event, we’ll do our best to follow along. Meanwhile, here’s Gary’s announcement, emailed to us 9/15:
This coming Thursday, the 17th of September at 6:30pm, Gary Jonas of HOW? Properties will be present at the newly completed St. Bridget’s Lofts to discuss concerns surrounding the recent completion of a parking lot on Stanton Street for the Loft residents.
The residents of Stanton have requested this meeting to address the following matters:
1. How? Properties had previously indicated in talks with current residents and during EFCC community meetings that parking in the Stanton Street lot would be free for loft renters. This agreement has since changed and renters are now required to pay $100 per month, per parking spot, causing apartment residents to park on the street. The resulting spillover has put the Stanton street parking situation in a state of extreme congestion.
2. HOW? Properties had represented to residents and to the zoning committee that the parking lot would house 20 spots along with additional parking on the lot off of Midvale. The lot is set up to allow only 16 spots currently, and no parking in the lot off of Midvale. This is a far cry from the 1:1 resident to parking spot ratio that HOW? originally had promised.
3. HOW? Properties employees had allegedly changed and removed parking signs on Stanton Street. The repercussions of this have been two fold. First, street parking spots were further reduced by an estimated 3 additional spots. Secondly, residents are now receiving $51 illegal stopping tickets for parking in these aforementioned spots.
4. HOW? Properties had represented to the community a certain look and feel of the parking lot. To date, the resulting lot looks nothing like the proposed design that was presented to the community. HOW? properties essentially laid down new blacktop and took down the current chain link fence. There is no landscaping as promised, no walls, no wrought iron fencing, no shrubbery.
As a homeowner and resident of Stanton Street for 8 years, and a member of the Zoning Board during the time Gary Jonas presented about St. Bridgit’s, I am disappointed, but not surprised by the impact this development has had on our street, and will have on surrounding streets. Since tenants moved in 2 weeks ago, i have only been able to park on the Street once, and that one time, I found myself parking in one of the newly (and illegally) created No-Parking places.
The past (2) weeks have been truly unpleasant and I am quite concerned about how much worse this will become when the Lofts are fully occupied. I am not opposed to development, and I certainly did not want the former school to remain an empty building, but the immediate disappearance of parking on Stanton, Calumet, and Midvale has made the past two weeks the most unpleasant time I have ever experienced since moving to East Falls. I love my house and I love my neighborhood, but I don’t know how the residents of Stanton Street (current and future) will contend with this situation. I appreciate East Falls Local publicizing this issue and hope that it encourages everyone to come out and participate in a productive conversation focused on solutions.