West New York officials unveiled plans for a new parking deck in town and gave updates to the status of other ongoing parking initiatives.
Mayor Gabriel Rodriguez said that the COVID-19 pandemic put a lot of things on hold that are now kicking back into gear.
“This will update the community on where we are going with parking,” Rodriguez said. “We all know that parking or lack thereof is an extremely big problem in the community. We are very excited to announce where we are going in our projects and that’s not only speaking to those that have to do with parking, but recapping everything we’ve done in the last year and more importantly, things to come.”
Special Projects Manager Jonathan Castaneda laid out the new and ongoing initiatives during the Capital Plan Midterm Review at the Jan. 12 meeting of the West New York Board of Commissioners.
“Parking is undoubtedly the priority for all West New Yorkers as a whole,” Castaneda said. “Mayor Rodriguez and the Board of Commissioners have set forth a parking and infrastructure plan that includes the construction of three new parking decks, the first investment of its kind in over 10 years.”
New parking deck on 54th Street
The town will convert the 54th Street Parking Lot next to Memorial High School Freshman Academy into a parking deck.
“This is a new partnership that we’re undertaking with the Board of Education to convert the surface parking on 54th Street behind the Freshman Academy to a new parking deck,” Castaneda said.
After the renovations are complete the lot of 55 parking spaces will become a deck with over 110 parking spaces. Construction is estimated to be complete by the summer of 2023.
Earlier in the meeting, the board introduced an ordinance that would sell the parking lot at 5401 Park Avenue to the Board of Education for $1. A public hearing on the matter will be held at the next commissioners meeting on Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom; for more information go to westnewyorknj.org and click on the event on the calendar webpage.
The other two new parking decks will be built on the surface parking lots at 51st Street and 57th Street.
The 51st Street Parking Lot holds 185 spaces. After renovations, the deck will total 485. The project is expected to be completed in December of 2022, Castaneda said, but a contract has not yet been awarded.
The 57th Street Parking Lot behind Modell’s parking lot of 78 spaces will upgrade to a 210 space deck. The project has entered the construction phase, and the board advertised bids for the work at its Jan. 12 meeting. Castaneda said this project is expected to be completed by March of 2023, “bringing relief to residents in town.”
Angled parking and road resurfacing
Other projects are in the works, including conversion of parking spots on the street from regular to angled. Portions of Broadway between 52nd and 53rd Street have already udergone change. According to Castaneda, this netted the town a total of approximately six parking spaces. Meanwhile the town is also resurfacing many roads in need.
“We’re aware of numerous roads that need to be resurfaced,” Castaneda said. “We have worked to priortize the most urgent roads over the course of the last two years.”
Completed roads include Bergenline Avenue; 62nd Street between Broadway and Bergenline; 54th, 56th, and 57th Streets between Kennedy and Bergenline; Broadway from 56th Street to the Union City border; and 51st Street from Broadway to Bergenline Avenue. More roads are slated to be redone in the future.
“To date, we’ve invested over $3.5 million in our roads,” Castaneda said. “The road renovations that are upcoming will include new sidewalks and curbs.
Existing parking deck upgrades, lot resurfacing, and streetscaping
West New York has already completed a number of parking initiatives that had been in motion for years. The town just finished renovating the pre-existing parking deck on 62nd Street. The deck received maintenance and security upgrades.
Also recently completed were renovations to the 63rd Street Parking Lot. The lot was resurfaced and green infrastructure upgrades were installed. In addition, the town has completed the renovations of the streetscape along Bergenline Avenue.
“This project was intended to not only beautify the streets, but also revitalize the economic activity along our ‘Miracle Mile,’” Castaneda said. “This project is very important for West New York. Economic investment in our businesses and our business district allows and equals jobs for our residents. The furtherance of the commercial activity that leads to the ever important economic multipliers that help West New York families access new and sustained economic opportunities moving forward.”
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