Study Will Asses North Adams Downtown Parking Needs

Two hotels under development, a historic theater eyed for reuse, and new stores opening on Eagle Street.

As efforts for a revitalized downtown continue, city officials want to explore exactly where — and how — everyone who uses it will park.

The Berkshire Eagle  reports a $15,000 grant awarded to the city through the Massachusetts Downtown Initiative will help answer that question.

Within the last year, the city has seen residents of the condominiums above Holden Street ask the city to rethink how it charges downtown residents for overnight parking in city-owned lots. The city has also had developers of a 27-room hotel on Eagle Street propose renting spaces in the city-owned Center Street parking lot for its guests' use.

North Adams Mayor Tom Bernard said, the aim will be to assess the city's current parking inventory and whether its fee structures are appropriate.

There's a sense in the city, he added, that while there is an ample number of parking spaces, they're not located in the perfect places.

The grant will be spearheaded by the city's office of community development. North Adams was one of several Massachusetts communities to be awarded a grant through the program, which handed out $300,000 in total.