By John Estridge
There will be seven parking spaces at the empty lot off Sixth Street near its intersection with Main Street.
Brookville Redevelopment members discussed the situation at their most recent meeting.
President Todd Thackery said the Cincinnati company of Abercrombie and Associates Inc. Civil Engineering and Surveying drew up plans for the parking spaces. It is a tight site with elevation changes. There is a way to get eight parking spaces, but it would entail much more money including constructing a larger retaining wall.
The seven spaces will be perpendicular to the alley on the east side of the lot, also known as Church Street. Entrance to the parking lot will be off Sixth Street, he said.
A three-foot retaining wall will outline some of the property. If the parking spaces have parking meters, is something for discussion at a much later time, Thackery said.
Two vacant houses once stood on the lot. Brookville Town Council and later Brookville Redevelopment worked with the state on a Blight Grant for the removal of the buildings. It was a long process, and the lots are still vacant after the buildings were removed. Also, removed was a retaining wall along Sixth Street, which was in disrepair before it was also taken away.
At the July Redevelopment meeting, member Darrel Flaspohler drew the commission’s attention to the high weeds growing in the lot and said it was in violation of the town’s nuisance ordinance. A few days after that meeting, the weeds were cut.
According to Thackery, with the seven-space configuration, the redevelopment commission would not have to seek easements or ask anything of the adjacent property owners. Thackery also said it is steeper from the proposed parking lot to the alley than it is to Sixth Street. That is why the entrance will be off Sixth and not the alley.
“It terraces the parking lot,” Thackery said. “From the Sixth Street elevation where the driveway comes in, it goes up about two-and-a-half to three feet where the parking level is and then it goes up a couple of more feet. It slopes on up toward the corners.”
He said the retaining walls will be by the alley and Nixies, which is on the west side by Main Street. There is a proposal to have a set of stairs through the retaining wall and by Nixies and Grimmeissen’s which would let out onto the Main Street sidewalk. That would be easier than walking down to Sixth Street and then up to Main, Thackery said. Nixies and Grimmeissen’s buildings will be higher than the parking lot with a three-foot drop over a 10-foot distance.
According to Thackery, he has asked Abercrombie to give a proposal to do the design and engineering on the parking lot. He expects to have the quote for the September meeting, 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 21.