Refurbished parking lot on Angela Street reopening

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

While Key West City Commissioners debate whether to build two new elevated parking garages in Old Town, an existing, 69-space parking lot on Angela and Simonton streets is scheduled to reopen in the next week or so.

Workers are finishing up the repaving of the existing lot behind the new fire station on Simonton Street, which has been closed during the demolition and rebuilding of Firehouse No. 2. The lot will have a payment kiosk and 60 spaces. Another approximately nine parking spaces are being installed in an elevated area along the Angela Street side of the property. In addition to the nine parking spaces, workers are also creating a “park-like” environment with landscaping and brick pavers in that section.

 

 

The newly-refurbished lot will accommodate scooters and have plug-in areas for electric cars, as well as the normal gas-guzzlers. And underground seepage trenches and a gravity well will help keep the lot from flooding, which it did frequently during storms in the past.

 

 

Public restrooms will also be installed in the new parking lot by May 1.

 

 

However, there is a possibility that part of the new lot could be demolished in the future if city commissioners move ahead with plans to build an elevated parking garage on that spot. Commissioners voted unanimously March 3 to authorize City Manager Jim Scholl to negotiate a contract with Walker Parking Consultant to design a two to three-story garage at 616 Simonton St. and another at 609 Greene St.

 

 

But owners of the nine single family homes that make up the Gardens of Key West, a residential development across the street from the proposed Simonton Street site, are continuing their protests against the project. In a letter to Mayor Craig Cates and city commissioners dated March 2, the homeowners said they had been promised a “park-like” environment behind the new fire station.

 

 

“A ‘park-like’ development is what was presented to HARC, the Tree Commission, and to the community to secure approvals and support,” the letter stated. “This included getting support for the variances needed to construct the firehouse. [Building] a garage at this location will make us feel as victims of a ‘bait and switch’ and broken promises.”

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