FUSP President Comments on Camino Plan

Last night I was literally falling asleep at the computer, and I realized today I had not included comments by Mark Williams, president of First Unitarian Society of Plainfield, which is next to Mario Camino's building at Park & Seventh.

Williams began by noting the church was built in 1889 and is now marking its 126th year in Plainfield. His concerns included use of the shared driveway, parking and how tenants and businesses will deal with loading and unloading at the building.

For those who need a recap, on Thursday the Planning Board heard Mario Camino's application to convert the vacant office building next to the church to 14 apartments, with commercial uses including six small restaurants on the ground floor. Seven or eight parking spots will be provided next to the building and the rest will be across park Avenue in Municipal Lot 7. The board granted preliminary site plan approval.

Williams named numerous activities that take place at the church and also rely on Lot 7 for parking. Besides Sunday morning services, the church is the site of community theater performances, a soup kitchen, Narcotics Anonymous meetings, a food pantry and more. It has 163 members, mostly elderly.

Regarding the driveway, Williams said garbage trucks have to squeeze in now. He asked where snow will go when the adjacent parking lot is in use, and he also objected to the proposal for a wooden fence between the lot and the driveway, citing the possibility that an injured elder would not be seen.

In addition, Williams was concerned that construction during the building conversion might damage trees on the church property and could affect a Memorial Garden that contains ashes and plaques in memory of church members.

Planning Director Bill Nierstedt suggested that Williams could be included in pre-construction meetings on the project. The board had also discussed the need for an overall look at parking as transit-oriented development increases, and Williams expressed an interest in taking part in that effort as well.

I was interested and pleased to hear Nierstedt and others say, in effect,  the time has come to step up to the challenges caused by increasing transit-oriented development, such as parking. In 2009, I took a look at all the parking lots and found most in need of repair. At the time, the emphasis was on getting roads repaired and I suggested in a 2010 post that parking lots should be next.

Unfortunately, the city had no permanent Public Works director for nearly a year after David Brown II left in November 2010 and there was a time frame when capital improvement projects were delayed. On Monday's City Council agenda, there is a bond ordinance for the still-unfinished road program that dates back to 2005. Perhaps enthusiasm over the spate of new development approvals will also hasten some interest in parking solutions.

--Bernice

Disclaimer: I attended the First Unitarian church for many years and served five years as publicity chair after I retired in 2003, but I am not a member.