Maplewood Village Parking - an Opportunity

First of all the question to some is - is there a parking problem in Maplewood Village?  Some people feel that there is not.  It might be safe to say that those people carefully plan their visits to weekdays between lunch and dinner and dinner and lunch, don't mind walking from what many people would consider not worth making a trip, or are consistently lucky.  However, an overwhelming amount of people have expressed to Engage Maplewood members that they believe there is a significant parking problem.  These people are merchants, residents, landowners and shoppers, the stakeholders of Maplewood Village.  Merchants especially are concerned as they do a bulk of their business on the weekends and during the holiday season when parking in the Village is most limited.

The members of Engage Maplewood have come up with a list of concerns and questions regarding  how the parking problem may be increased with the redevelopment of the post office site:

- we believe the proposed developer should present an analysis and specific solutions to accommodate parking for the expanded supermarket, additional retail, and 25+ new residents.

- we believe our representatives should meet with the Village stakeholders to assure that either the proposal that the developer suggests meets the short-term and long term needs of the Village and/or that a discussion and committee with the stakeholders should be formed to assure the same.

- we ask that our representatives hold off on the development of the post office site until a solid parking plan is in place and take advantage of this huge opportunity.

To understand more about our questions and concerns about parking, please go to the following link that details our statement that was forwarded to the Maplewood Township Committee:

http://www.engage-maplewood.org/Post-Office-Discussion.pdf