The Hanover Board of Selectmen appointed a Parking Task Force Committe to investigate the possibility of creating an estimated $3 million parking garage to ease overcrowding in the downtown area.
The proposed garage would hold an estimated 200 to 250 cars and would be for the use of town patrons, according to College Assistant Director of Business Affairs William Barr, a task force member.
The current parking problem in downtown Hanover results from the limited number of public parking spaces -- there are 838 metered spaces and 64 leased spaces. The leased spaces are rented from the town for one month time periods by local businesses.
Such limited parking can be a problem for local businesses. "There are a number of business people who will tell you that the lack of parking spaces hurts their businesses," Town Manager Clifford Vermilya said.
There are zoning regulations which require certain types of businesses to have a set number of parking spaces in order to operate, according to Vermilya.
If the garage is approved, it will be located on a site behind the Ben & Jerry's building on Lebanon street, which currently houses a recycling site, Barr said.
The new project is not intended to ease the College's parking crunch but the College stands to benefit if it decides to invest.
"The College may have some interest in using [the garage] for overnight guests of the Hanover Inn, or after hours use for the Hopkins Center," he said.
Although the Hanover Inn does have its own garage underneath its building, there are approximately 30 spaces to accomodate 90 rooms, according to Vermilya. If the town allows certain parking spaces for guests, the Hanover Inn could help finance the project, he added.
The only other such parking facility is a garage located underneath the Galleria building, which is for Galleria employees and customers only, Vermilya said.
"We haven't really decided if it is a self sustaining operation yet," Barr said, "meaning that we don't know if the revenue brought in by it would exceed the costs of building and operating it."
There are several possible ways of obtaining revenue from the garage. The garage could feature metered parking spaces, or it could be a manned complex.
"Part of it has to do with how we decide to split the spaces between leased spaces and metered spaces," Vermilya said. "It would be cheaper in the long run to have the garage manned if they were all going to be metered spaces, instead of having half metered and half leased."
The task force is also investigating how the project could be paid for if members find it financially feasible. One option would be to finance the garage through a revenue bond, which is a bond issue that would be paid back with the revenue generated by the facility, Vermilya said.
The task force consists of nine members. Representing the College are Director of Real Estate Paul Olsen and Barr.
Other members include Chair Brian Walsh; Hanover Chamber of Commerce members Sheryl Boghosian and David Cioffi, manager of the Dartmouth Bookstore; Hanover Improvement Society representatives Roy Danwell and Jack Skewes; and Hanover Parking and Transportation Board members Bill Baschnagel and Jack Nelson.
The task force is working on the proposal for the next Town Meeting, which will be held in May 1994. If the proposal is voted on and approved at that meeting, the garage could be billed within the following two years, according to Vermilya.
