Tuesday, December 18, 2012
New meters should be ready to accept payment by Saturday, according to city official.
At long last, the new parking meters purchased for downtown Hyattsville will be going on line over the next few days. According to Jim Chandler, director of Hyattsville's Department of Community and Economic Development, city staff will be commissioning the meters throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. After that, city parking enforcement staff will undergo two days of training in how to use and maintain the parking meters. By Saturday, all the meters should be ready to accept payment for parking. "They are very user friendly…from all reports, they are very durable, too," said Chandler in a brief interview. Users will be able to feed the meters with coin or credit cards. For city officials, the new digital meters will also be able to give …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Hamilton Street property owners say city is not offering fair market value for land to build new Arts District parking garage.
The Hyattsville City Council is attempting to use eminent domain to acquire two properties for a proposed parking facility on Hamilton Street to serve the redeveloping Route 1 corridor. Two lawsuits filed on Oct. 22 with the Prince George's County Circuit Court seek to condemn two properties in the 4500 block of Hamilton Street to make way for the new parking facility. Eminent domain allows a government entity broad powers to acquire land for public improvements in exchange for fair market value compensation for the property. The lawsuits were approved by the Hyattsville City Council in September, according to court documents. The properties, across the street from each other, are the site of two auto repair shops, D&E Auto Repair Service…
Saturday, December 1, 2012
City trying to buy two properties on Hamilton Street to transform into future parking facility. To be determined: parking lot or deck needed?
After months of secrecy, Mayor Marc Tartaro revealed details yesterday about where Hyattsville city leaders are looking to build a new parking facility for the city's redeveloping downtown Route 1 corridor. Tartaro said that city officials are currently engaged in "active negotiations" with the owners of two properties in the 4500 block of Hamilton Street to acquire roughly one acre of land upon which could be built a new parking lot or parking garage. Money to buy the land would come from a $2.5 million bond issuance approved by the Hyattsville City Council back in July which was earmarked for parking infrastructure improvements. Citing the ongoing negotiations, Tartaro did not reveal which specific properties the city was eyeing. …
Monday, November 5, 2012
Change would make parking rates equal throughout the city, if adopted.
Hyattsville leaders are considering adjusting hourly parking rates so that they are equal throughout the city, at least temporarily. A measure before the Hyattsville City Council tonight would replace the current 75 cents per hour parking rate at University Town Center and the 25 cents per hour parking rate at the city's parking lots and on-street spaces with a single 50 cent hourly rate. The rates would be in effect from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, excluding holidays. The measure is designed as an interim step to gauge the performance of the city's parking spaces once they are all up and running. The goal is to develop a rate structure which gives the city's parking operations a "cost neutral" revenue stream, ideally …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
But final renovations to one new lot will cost more than expected.
Motorists will soon, officially, have access to more than 100 new parking spaces in downtown Hyattsville. Jim Chandler, director of community and economic development for the city of Hyattsville, said that three downtown parking lots on Hamilton, Gallatin and Farragut Street will be done with ongoing renovations within three weeks. There is one small hiccup: the Hamilton Street parking lot needs about $56,000 in additional work not anticipated in the original work order. According to Chandler, contractors discovered that almost the entire base layer of the Hamilton Street parking lot needed to be replaced. The original work order estimated that only 20 percent of that lots base layer would need to be replaced. $3,000 of the additional …
Monday, August 6, 2012
For the second time this year, Hyattsville City Council to debate parking changes in Arts District neighborhood near school
New parking restrictions near DeMatha Catholic High School are up for consideration by the Hyattsville City Council. The restrictions, proposed for the 5800 block of 44th Avenue and the 4300 block of Madison Street, are designed to accomplish two goals: make it easier for DeMatha students to walk across campus and to free up parking for neighborhood residents. The new plan would restrict parking on the 5800 block of 44th Avenue and the 4300 block of Madison Street between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The proposed parking restrictions are the result of almost 10 months of evaluation by city officials, school employees and neighborhood residents. The idea for a new set of parking restrictions along …
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Funds earmarked for land acquisition for new parking spaces along Route 1, according to sources.
The Hyattsville City Council gave overwhelming preliminary approval to a $2.5 million bond issuance designed to fund a variety of parking-related projects and other infrastructure improvements. The bonds have been most frequently described as a way to pay for a number of ongoing projects, like the renovation of multiple city parking lots in downtown Hyattsville or the acquisition and installation of more than 100 parking meters downtown. But perhaps of interest to area motorists are a number of provisions in the bond measure which clear the way for the city council to use bond funds to pay for land acquisition to build new parking lots. The city is already looking to acquire land downtown which could be used to construct a parking garage…
Monday, July 23, 2012
Hyattsville City Council to vote on contract to install new parking meters.
The Hyattsville City Council will consider a $16,000 contract for the installation of more than 100 new parking meters throughout downtown. At least 61 of the meters will be installed along Route 1. The rest will be installed in a series of city parking lots near Route 1 which are currently under renovation. The contract estimate was originally $18,650 for the installation of the new parking meter equipment, but more than $2,000 was knocked off when the city realized that the cost of parking meter poles was already accounted for in the purchase of the parking meter equipment. The installation of the parking meters would be a step forward for the city's plan to have metered parking along Route 1 between Hamilton and Madison streets by …
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Hyattsville waiting on signs from State Highway Administration before parking plans can be implemented.
June has come and gone, and yet no new parking meters have sprouted along Hyattsville's downtown Route 1. Hyattsville officials now say that they are expecting the meters to be in by the end of August, but on street parking could come much sooner than that. Back in March, the Hyattsville's Director of Community and Economic Development Jim Chandler said that metered, off-peak parking along Route 1 between Madison and Hamilton streets would begin by the end of June. Last month, the Hyattsville City Council approved a $206,000 purchase of 112 parking meters for use along Route 1 and in a series of downtown parking lots slated for rehabilitation. Coordination efforts between State Highway Administration and city officials has been slower …
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Downtown parking improvements move a step forward with purchase of 112 parking meters.
It's only a matter of time until parking meters make their appearance on Route 1 in downtown Hyattsville. Last night, the Hyattsville City Council unanimously approved the purchase of 112 parking meters to install along Route 1 and in a series of newly rehabilitated downtown parking lots. The total cost of the meters, purchased from Duncan Parking Technologies, runs more than $206,200, not including the $1,184 monthly service fees to keep the meters running. The price also does not include installation costs. Though the meters are purchased, the city is still looking for an affordable contractor to install the meters. The meters include five standalone multi-space parking meters for use in the soon-to-be rehabilitated parking lots …
Michael Theis
11:05 am on Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Hey, he's allowed to comment here. I was just curious as to how he found out about our little town's eminent domain push. more ›