ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Most business owners in Cliftondale Square in Saugus say that parking is a major problem.
By BRIDGET TURCOTTE
SAUGUS — While the town looks to revitalize and bring back the buzz of Cliftondale Square, small business owners in the area believe they have the answer: more parking.
Paul LaCorcia has owned Lomas Flowers at Cliftondale for 35 years. While some of the original businesses still exist, many others have come and gone, he said.
“Parking is the number one problem,” LaCorcia said. “We fought for parking for years. We used to have a lot more foot traffic. The younger generation doesn’t walk around and shop. We’re close to the mall. They go there and they can find parking. The big stores, they sell flowers now. That’s what we’re competing with.”
LaCorcia said he and his wife have attended several meetings and discussed how to revitalize the area, but haven’t yet seen the changes they need for their business to strive.
“We all could use a new storefront,” he said. “We’re on our way out. Twenty years ago, this would have helped us. They were going to put in park benches, make it more quaint. They were good ideas but nothing ever came of it.”
Ken Patel, manager at One Stop Market, said the business has been in the square for 10 years.
“We got a crosswalk, which is great,” he said. “Things are good – they’re not bad. But if they moved the bus stop, we would have more parking. If people can’t park here because they’ll get a ticket, nobody will come in.”
The shop is owned by Ken Patel, who runs three other convenient stores and a liquor store in town.
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Peg Barringer, project director of FinePoint Associates, LLC, a Massachusetts-based economic development consulting firm, said 72 percent of the square’s businesses are independently owned. About 17 percent are chains and franchises and 11 percent public or nonprofit entities.
With more than 192,000 square feet of commercial space, the 66 existing businesses are underutilized, said Barringer, who presented a business analysis on the area at a public meeting Wednesday. Some retail stores see less than 30 customers a day.
The business study that was conducted in response to the changing business climate. Existing business conditions were examined and Barringer presented possible solutions to long-standing problems impacting small businesses in the square.
“Most businesses we talked to said their sales were holding steady, a few said their sales had declined,” she said.
According to FinePoint’s findings, high speed traffic could be inhibiting people from stopping and the square hasn’t been successfully promoted as a shopping center.
Victoria Pelletier, a waitress at The Tumble Inn Diner, agrees that fast drivers are an issue.
“This is on a main street with banks and there’s always a problem with parking,” she said.
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Joe Frongillo, a regular at the Diner, suggested cross lights for pedestrians, especially the elderly population who frequent the square’s shops and daytime eateries.
Barringer suggested new signage, destination businesses that attract people to the area, businesses that are open later at night, holding special events, and restaurants where customers can sit down and have dinner.
The average person visits two shops after leaving an unrelated event in the same vicinity, she said.
Small projects can be completed to give storefronts a facelift and make them more inviting, she said. She suggested a beautification committee to complete such tasks. Installing park benches, ditching the closed blinds, and larger glass windows are other options.
But the location has a few thing working for it, including its proximity to Route 1 and the nearby Overlook Ridge apartment complex that will have 3,000 units when completed.
Barringer suggested the town conduct a parking study to determine whether there are an adequate number of spaces.
“The last time a parking study was done was back in the 80s,” said Peter Rossetti, chairman of the Planning Board and owner of Rossetti Insurance, located in the square. “MAPC did the study and it showed the spaces were used 110 percent of time.”
Rossetti suggested signs be posted and parking on nearby side streets advertised to assist with the flow of traffic.
Town Manager Scott Crabtree said officials will examine the parking situation.
“One thing we’re going to look at is look at doing is a parking study,” he said. “If there’s any opportunity there, any commercial property that may go up for sale, the town might be interested in acquiring to turn it into a parking lot.”
But the next step is for the Economic Development Committee to discuss the results of the study and decide the appropriate way to move forward, he said.
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.