DEIS: Parking concerns; Availability of "unofficial" off-site parking

AVAILABILITY OF “UNOFFICIAL” OFF-SITE PARKING

Draft EIS states:

A substantial amount of parking activity also occurs both on-street and in other unofficial off-streetareas. For example, off-street, additional parking occurs “behind” the existing Bronx Terminal Market buildings west of Exterior Street, i.e., between the buildings lining the west side of Exterior Street and the Harlem River.

There is also a significant amount of parking that occurs within the lower parking level of the Concourse Plaza Shopping Center, This shopping center has a posted capacity of approximately 1,200 spaces overall. It is open 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Yankees fan parking takes place on the below-grade level, with several hundred parking spaces typically available on game days.

Overall, there are approximately 3,216 legal parking spaces available on-street within the entire area surveyed (over 300 blockfaces). During the hour(s)immediately preceding a weeknight game, curb parking occupancy increases to approximately 100 percent until game time. After 7 PM, occupancy of curb spaces increases to 110 percent of capacity, as virtually all legal spaces are used and illegal parking and double parking occurs, with hardly any legal spaces available for use. This means that the total number of vehicles parked on-street is greater than the number of legal spaces available.

Response:

The applicant is again trying to use the argument that because it is not easy to find a lot of parking for a game, you simply just need to build lots and lots more parking. Besides encouraging transit use, the Yankees should consider working out arrangements with existing lots which may not be used to peak capacity during game times. These lots might include Concourse Plaza Shopping Center and other privately owned lots (such as the public parking lot in 1020 Grand Concourse, among others).