JAMESTOWN – The Chautauqua County Clerk is asking the city of Jamestown to provide free on-street parking spaces near the Department of Motor Vehicles office on W. Third Street.
County clerk Larry Barmore appeared before the Jamestown City Council during its monthly meeting on Monday night and expressed his thanks to the city officials for helping to find a new location for the DMV office in 2015. After considering a couple of options, the office was eventually moved to 512 W. Third Street, where there is a parking lot for DMV customers that offers up to 20 parking spaces.
However, Barmore said that there still isn’t adequate parking at the new location and, as a result, it’s created problems – including property damage – for both customers and the building owner.
“It’s just human nature. There’s a free parking lot and there’s meters on the street and people are jamming into that parking lot with one-ton trucks that have crew cabs,” Barmore noted. “I’m having a car accident in the parking lot pretty much on a weekly basis. Last week some gentleman actually slammed into the building.”
To fix the problem, Barmore is asking the city to provide between 5 and 10 free, or courtesy, parking spaces on W. Third Street in the area near the DMV office.
Chautauqua County Clerk Larry Barmore
“The parking spaces in front of the DMV on both sides of the street remain empty or nearly empty all day long. And so what I’m hear for is requesting that this council consider removing those meters and lets put up signs that say ‘DMV Parking Only’ and that will alleviate the congestion in the parking lot, making it much more convenient for the people and city residents using the DMV,” Barmore said.
Barmore also explained that in 2015 when his office was looking to move the downtown DMV office from its previous location on Pine Street, he had initially wanted to lease space at the former Ames Plaza on Fluvanna Ave, but eventually settled on the Third Street Location after city officials asked him to consider keeping it downtown, with the assurance that parking wouldn’t be a problem.
Following Barmore’s comments, Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi said that the city attorney is looking into the matter to determine if it is okay for the city to designate parking spaces for a specific purpose – such as for DMV use only – on a public right of way. He said once that research is done he will report the findings to the city council and Barmore’s office.
They have free parking on 3rd Street you’re going to have people from the businesses down the road Park in there because they don’t have to feed the meter. My suggestion would be to take out that little side street by the parking lot for DMV and that park across the street and extended parking lot over to that Park area
What about the businesses like Panache and Paces? Make them free 2 hour spots like downtown but DO NOT designate who may use them
I thought the same thing as Bob. I often have difficulty finding parking near Panache at busy times of the day. Where will Panache and Paces customers park>
If the DMV lot is full I’m not going to stand in that line anyways. I’ll come back. I don’t think free on street parking will change human behavior and poor driving skills.