In a move aimed at the long-ongoing project of revitalizing Greenville’s downtown, the Select Board is going forward with plans to purchase two vacant lots on Main Street and make them into municipal parking.
Through a near-unanimous voice vote at Town Meeting this year, residents approved $60,000 from the 2021 unassigned fund balance to purchase 24 Main St. and 28 Main St. with the intent that they be converted into municipal parking for downtown.
Last week, the town signed a purchase-and-sale agreement for the property, and has solicited bids from survey companies to review the property before officially moving forward with the sale.
It’s the latest foray into revitalization efforts for the area – an effort that various townspeople have turned their eye to more and more in recent years. In 2017, the town held a vision forum to discuss the future of Greenville, with a special focus on Main Street.
Heather Schoff, the town’s recreation director, was part of those discussions, and said she still has hopes of seeing Main Street revive. She said more parking for downtown businesses is a step in the right direction.
“To have businesses, you need to have parking,” Schoff said.
Businesses on Main Street have flagged, with the closing of the downtown convenience store and the loss of several restaurants which have started and sputtered in the last few years, although some staples, including Marcus P’s Cafe, have been able to maintain a presence.
Kim Vaillancourt owns Village Haircutters at 14 Main St., another long-running business. Vaillancourt only has a single customer at a time, and has adequate parking for herself, she said, but wants to see improvements in the downtown area.
“Marcus P’s, the Town Hall, they need parking,” Vaillancourt said. “Any business that decides to come into town is going to need parking.”
Vaillancourt said she was in favor of additional municipal parking, as long as there were restrictions on long-term parking and it was maintained.
“If we can keep it clean and not an eyesore, I’m all for it,” Vaillancourt said.
In the many years she has been running her salon, Vaillancourt has seen storefronts on Main Street deteriorate, and wants to see it cleaned up.
“You try to make your business presentable and professional, and it’s hard when you’re surrounded by buildings that aren’t doing that,” she said.
Mark Abare, owner of the Greenville Junktion Shoppe, which opened on Main Street mid-pandemic, said his shop doesn’t require a large amount of parking, either, but he’d like to see more spots available for events like the music series he runs and for upcoming events celebrating the town’s 150th anniversary. He added that if it attracts potential shops, it would also benefit the whole street.
“It would be good for everybody,” Abare said. “The more things to draw you into downtown, the more people will come and explore.”
Parking on Main Street downtowns has been a point of conversation in several local communities, including in Jaffrey, where an upcoming traffic project to install a connecting bridge for Route 202 traffic is expected to impact a municipal lot on Blake Street.
Jaffrey Economic Development Director Jo Anne Carr said parking has been a topic of conversation for Main Street for years, particularly with the recent construction and opening of The Park Theatre, an event venue with hundreds of seats.
Jaffrey has three municipal lots in close proximity to Main Street, and Carr said directing people to those out-of-the-way spaces is key through both signs on the street and making sure those lots are on GPS systems such as Google Maps, as well as having individual businesses directing visitors to them on their websites.
The upcoming traffic calming project in downtown Jaffrey is expected to add parking on River Street, streetside parking which once existed but has since been lost. Carr said the town is also taking a longer view.
Jaffrey’s downtown is in a Tax Increment Financing District, which allows additional tax revenue from improvements in an area to be captured in a fund for community projects. At some point in the next few years, Jaffrey plans to use those funds to formalize a parking lot at Community Field, a municipal lot within walking distance of downtown which will add 70 parking spaces.
“We’re not seeing that demand presently, but we’re anticipating three to five years down the road, and working to address those future parking needs,” Carr said.
While most of Jaffrey’s parking for downtown is in municipal lots not on the main strip, Carr said there’s an advantage to patrons having to walk a short distance to their destinations in that they get to explore downtown and notice other shopping opportunities.
Wilton Economic Development Director Jennifer Beck agreed, noting that the Wilton downtown has a municipal lot within a minute’s walk that is never full.
“People say there is a parking issue if they can’t park right in front of where they want to go, but a little walking is a good thing. I think in our rural towns, putting more blacktop isn’t the answer. Lack of parking is often a perception issue,” Beck said.
Wilton has recently undergone the kind of revitalization Greenville is striving for. On Wednesday, Beck was observing the live online auction of the former Santander Bank on Main Street, the street’s last empty storefront.
Beck said in the last several years, there has been new interest in Main Street, including new owners of buildings who did significant renovations. He said the town made a conscious choice about how it was going to market itself – namely as a town community, not promoting individual businesses.
“Branding, signage, a new website and marketing the features and advantages and finding what’s unique and differentiated about us, that’s where we started,” Beck said. “The town had a story to tell. And a little bit of luck. We’ve been blessed that there are people finding our town, becoming interested and falling in love with our town and moving here. When residents want to invest in their town, that’s the best-case scenario.”
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.