BELFAST, Maine — City councilors approved six new handicap parking spaces at their Tuesday meeting as part of efforts to address accessibility issues in the downtown area.
The new spots include both those recommended by Belfast’s public works department, plus additional spaces identified by councilors. They come in response to a recent push by community members to improve accessibility in downtown Belfast.
The new spots include two on High Street between the Colonial Theatre and the mini mall, two by the police station, one on Church Street near KeyBank and one at the city’s public landing. City councilors also directed public works officials to review an additional location by the police station for a potential third spot.
Adding spaces near the police station is a particularly important improvement for increasing access to the city’s public services, Councilor Paul Dean said.
Councilor Mike Hurley said the six new handicap spaces address several accessibility issues raised by community members, but he’d like to see continued improvements and additional spaces added down the line.
“We just don’t have enough handicap parking spaces,” Hurley said.
In addition to the new spaces, city officials also discussed locations where the city could add ramps and handicap accessible ramps as well as removing obstacles and cutting back overgrown bushes along the sidewalk.
The improvements address several problem locations highlighted by Belfast residents Aynne Ames and Neva Allen, who have been pushing city officials and local businesses on accessibility for years.
Ames and Allen raised concerns with the council last November and officials tasked them with making a list of places where improvements were needed. In June, they said the city urgently needed to improve the situation, and that it needed to be more proactive.
The midcoast city’s geography creates a number of accessibility issues that are hard to solve because it’s built on a hill, City Manager Erin Herbig said. But Herbig and city councilors said the new spaces, in addition to a recent focus on sidewalk repairs and ramp installations, are all moving toward addressing the city’s most immediate accessibility concerns.
As a result of the original report from Ames and Allen, officials also tasked the recently restructured Pedestrian, Transportation and Accessibility citizen committee to create a long term plan for addressing accessibility issues in Belfast. Allen is a member of that committee.
“I’m glad that it’s in the hands of the city council and that they’re taking it seriously,” Ames said.
