(Photo/Dakota Antelman)
SHREWSBURY – Shrewsbury is mulling the future of parking.
During an online public input session on June 7, consultants from Beals and Thomas Inc. outlined several potential parking regulations. The new regulations mainly focus on making parking more environmentally friendly.
According to feedback gathered from community members, Beals and Thomas identified several areas of town with insufficient parking. Grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, government buildings like Town Hall, library and post office, and recreation areas like Dean Park and Jordan Pond Walking Trail were among the areas citizens named.
The same survey also identified areas with excess parking, including several Route 9 retail stores. White City, Home Depot, Staples and Stop & Shop were specifically mentioned.
The study, funded by the Massachusetts Vulnerability Preparedness Program (MVP), seeks to review existing parking bylaws, research innovative parking regulations and develop recommendations for new environmentally friendly parking guidelines. Shrewsbury first became involved with the MVP in 2018, becoming one of the first communities to become “MVP certified.” In 2022, the town received an MVP Action Grant worth $90,000 to “advance climate-focused parking regulatory updates.”
According to the presentation, excess parking can be damaging to the environment. Large paved areas can create heat island effects where the dark pavement absorbs sunlight instead of reflecting it, increasing the temperature of the immediate area. Pavement is also an impervious surface; rainwater can’t pass through pavement to soak into the ground.
The proposed regulations would adjust the town’s parking ratios. The Planning Board could potentially require sites to have less parking depending on factors like proximity to existing parking areas.
Beals and Thomas discussed several ideas to limit the need for parking. Shared parking, one concept mentioned at the public input session, involves two establishments with different needs strategically sharing one lot. For instance, one parking lot could be shared between an office that would need parking throughout the day and a bar that would need parking during the night would help reduce the overall amount of parking needed.
Other parking reduction strategies, like off-site parking and reserve parking were also outlined.
The proposed design standards include measures for stormwater management (including tree filters and rain gardens), landscaping (the plan calls for 10% of parking area to be landscaped green space), and heat island reduction (the regulations aim to have 50% of parking in the shade). New developments of ten or more spaces or parking lots being heavily modified would be subject to the new parking standards. The plan also has incentives to encourage landowners into retrofitting their existing parking lots to meet the new standards.
Beals and Thomas’s report, which includes the draft parking regulations, will be published soon, and the regulations may be up for vote at the next Town Meeting.
The full meeting can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hayWKZJgxHs.
RELATED CONTENT
Shrewsbury looks to make parking more environmentally friendly
