City Council Rejects Worth Lot Parking Garage

The City Council voted, 5-4, on Monday night to no longer consider the Worth Lot site for a new parking garage following more than 90 minutes of public comment from Portsmouth residents and business owners who spoke out against it.

The City Council received a strong message from several Portsmouth residents and business owners that they don't want a new parking garage built on the Worth Lot site and they erupted in applause following the vote.

Assistant Mayor Robert Lister made the motion to take the Worth Lot site off the table. Lister said the site has never enjoyed the full support of the council and the site is a gateway to the northern tier of the city.

“I have concerns about any potential costs to the taxpayers for a new parking garage,” said Lister given the poor economy. “When does Portsmouth cease to be Portsmouth?” is a question that Lister said resonates with him that was asked by former councilor John Heinz.

Councilor Tony Coviello, who chaired the Parking Garage Site Selection Committee, said, "If we don’t build a garage now, we are going to lose the very thing that makes us proud of.”

Councilor Nancy Novelline Clayburgh said she would not support Lister’s motion. She said the subcommittee has made great progress on dealing with the issue of recommending a new parking garage site. She said she wants the committee to continue its work and bring the Worth Lot to the council.

“Let’s settle it, one way or the other,” she said. “If it’s rejected, we move onto another location.”

She said the consultant the city hired said the city will need 650 new parking spaces by 2020, which is how long it will take to actually build a new parking garage, regardless of where it is constructed.

Councilor Brad Lown should the council kick the can down the road for seven months to work on the budget and reduce acrimony. Lown did not agree with that. He felt the council should move forward with the issue.

Lown said the council has to have six votes to bond a new parking garage and he is not sure the Worth Lot site has that much support. “It’s time to move ahead and make a decision,” he added.

A motion to postpone any discussion on any parking garage sites until June 2013 failed by a vote of 3-6.

During the public comment, Catherine Reddington, owner of City Shoes at Vaughn Mall, said the Thomas J. McIntyre federal building on Daniel Street would be a better choice. She said the city should also consider the Sheraton Hotel.

She asked them to pass a motion to stop looking at the Worth Lot any further.

Marissa Kang, who works at Portsmouth Health Food on Congress Street, read a Rap statement to the council. She also called for the council to move away from the lot. She said the project would put the store in jeopardy.

Betty Lipton, owner of Seacoast Psychic Center, said the project would also be disruptive to her business, which is located above the Portsmouth Health Food store. He said a lot of her customers come from Rhode Island and Massachusetts and all over and the loss of the parking lot would be a problem for them.

Mike Delacruz, manages 10 retail shops and 30 offices in downtown Portsmouth, said the project should be supported because the parking is needed in the city. He said there are 100- to 200 vacant offices spaces in downtown, which is why there are available spaces downtown.

The lack of sufficient parking doesn’t encourage new businesses to fill those office spaces. He said the vacant office spaces also hurt the city’s property tax revenue stream.

Micum Davis of Portsmouth, owner of Cornerstone Tree Service, spoke against the proposal to build a new parking garage because “I think that placing a parking garage in the middle of that location (Maplewood Avenue and Hanover Street) would create more congestion.”

The Worth lot would also take another space that has an open view of the sky and enclose it with another building, he said.

Scott Nelson, owner of Portsmouth Health Food for 42 years, said they employ 24 people who would lose their jobs and benefits if it closes.

He said their store carries a lot of perishable foods without preservatives with a shelf life of four to five days, which would not be convenient for customers if they can’t park in the Worth Lot.

Some city residents and business owners said they supported the Worth Lot site. John Golumb, owner of Poco’s Bow Street Cantina and chairman of the Portsmouth Police Commission, said “We need a parking garage downtown.”

Barbara DeStephano, a Hanover Street resident, “No matter where it goes, we need a garage.” She added that “It should not be kicked down the road another six months.”

Here is how the council voted on motion to no longer consider Worth Lot for a new parking garage: