Parking crunch

Jul. 26—BEVERLY — Therese Sauvageau has been lobstering out of the Beverly waterfront for more than half a century. On most mornings, she shows up at about 5:30 to begin her day's work on her boat, Sea Anchor.

The early arrival means Sauvageau usually has no trouble finding a parking spot in the tangle of coveted spots under the Beverly-Salem bridge and near the harbormaster building. And what happens if she doesn't show up that early?

"Did you find a spot?" Sauvageau asked a visitor early Friday afternoon as she was heading to her pickup truck after returning to shore. "If you run a little later, you can't find anything."

Commercial and recreational boaters, and anyone else who visits the waterfront these days, are facing a parking crunch caused by the shutting down of the old McDonald's lot at 1 Water St. due to the construction of a restaurant on the site.

The now-demolished McDonald's, which had been closed for 27 years, might've been an eyesore on one of the city's most scenic landscapes, but the site also served a purpose by providing more than 50 spaces in an area where parking is at a premium. That site is now a fenced-off construction zone and will be until at least April, when the restaurant is scheduled to open.

Ward 1 City Councilor Todd Rotondo, who serves on the city's Harbor Management Authority, said the city has been trying to find solutions to what it hopes is just a temporary problem, until the restaurant opens and parking spots are reopened.

The city removed porta-potties to free up three parking spaces under the bridge. Vehicles are allowed to park on a small grassy area. And a 15-minute loading/unloading zone was created for recreational boaters who can't find a nearby space.

In response to concerns raised by recreational boaters after the McDonald's lot closed, the city has also set aside 12 parking spaces for people who lease slips at the city-owned recreational marina. No parking spaces have been set aside for commercial slip owners.

Sean Ciancarelli, the project coordinator for the city who also manages the city's marinas, said commercial slip owners can use any of the approximately 34 spaces under the bridge and near the harbormaster's office.

Chris D'Alfonso, who has leased a recreational slip for a dozen years, said he is pleased with the city's solution to set aside the 12 spaces. He said the city must provide parking under the slip agreements that boaters sign. But he said those spaces were never formally assigned because there was enough parking in the McDonald's parking lot.

"We've always had parking. We just needed to ensure that was not going to get lost," he said.

Despite those efforts, Rotondo acknowledged there are only so many spots to go around at the moment. To make matters more difficult, the city is in the midst of repair work on the city pier, a project that is also taking up space in the parking areas.

"We looked at different scenarios, but there really is no best scenario," Rotondo said.

He said the city should do a comprehensive parking study of the area to help find long-term solutions.

The question going forward is what impact the new restaurant, Mission Boathouse, will have on parking in the area. The 350-seat restaurant will have 60 parking spaces on the site, and those will be public spaces because the land is owned by the city.

Restaurant owner Marty Bloom said the spaces will be open to the public, but also said there might be time limits.

"We will have some control of that for our customers," he said. "Our customers have to be able to find parking spaces."

Bloom said he is considering using a shuttle service for employees so they can park off-site. The shuttle could also possibly pick up customers who park at the MBTA garage at the train station, he said.

D'Alfonso said he believes the parking crunch will ease once the restaurant opens and those spaces become available. But neighbors have expressed concern about restaurant customers parking in the Goat Hill and Fish Flake Hill neighborhoods.

Bloom said there are lots of restaurants that have no parking and people find a way to work around it. The increased use of ride-sharing services should help, he said.

"This is going to be an ongoing discussion to try to figure out how to mitigate it as best we can," Bloom said. "There's no perfect solution."

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.