Longtime parking lot plan moves forward

The City of Shelton is moving forward on plans to transform its eastern Civic Center parking lot, including adding a basketball and pickle ball court, benches, garbage cans and landscaping.

At its Nov. 16 meeting, the Shelton City Council voted to extend a contract with Transpo Group to complete the design of the project, on West Cota Street between Fourth and Fifth streets. The city also added another $37,480 to the contract.

“Our partners will agree this is a well-loved project and something everyone is looking forward to seeing completed,” said City Manager Jeff Niten.

The Shelton Centennial Lions Club for several years has been raising money for the project. Council member Kathy McDowell is a member, and she gave a literal thumbs-up to the contract extension.

“All I have to say on this one is, ‘Yay, it’s going to get done!’ ” she said. “Thank you.”

McDowell was a member of the then-Shelton City Commission when the city started talking about the project in January 2018. In 2019, the city received a $283,000 state grant to fund the project.

In June 2019, the city hired Transpo Group to develop a plan. The city report states Transpo Group’s engineer’s estimate was much higher than anticipated. To reduce the cost of the project, the city asked the company to reroute the storm system from West Cota Street to a new on-site storm retention pond and reduce the amount of asphalt by adding a park on the east side to the plan.

The city reports those design changes reduced the number of parking spaces and also included the removal of a house, which increased project costs and took away the opportunity for future expansion of police department parking on Fifth Street.

City staff reconfigured the lot to add more parking stalls and still allow room for the park. The basketball and pickle ball court was moved from near Fourth Street to Fifth Street so first responders could park closer to the building.

In a study session on Aug. 21, council members and city staff discussed the parking lot design changes and decided to use permeable pavers instead of conventional asphalt paving. The city report states that permeable pavers provide the same function as traditional paving, but water can infiltrate directly into the subsurface rock, reducing stormwater runoff.

Since the 1990s, the city had had an agreement with Shelton Baptist Church for its parishioners to park in the lot when city staff are not using it, Niten said. The new design will give church members access to Cota Street, Niten said.

Council member Eric Onisko asked about fencing.

“Will it be fenced off, kids and balls flying into the driveway … Will balls be rolling into the driveway or the parking lot or the street?” he asked.

City Engineer Ken Gill said the plan does not call for fencing.