Plans for a parking lot at the Stone House in Wyomissing have been downsized after public feedback, according Mayor Fred Levering.
Levering said the changes were recommended in a recent committee meeting as a compromise between providing the access required by the Americans with Disabilities Act and accommodating the residents who spoke against the lot.
“We still have to do some form of a parking lot, we must comply with the ADA (rules),” Levering said. “I don’t know if the names on the petitions and people who contacted the borough (opposing the lot) are truly representative of the whole community, but there’s no questioning their passion. And the council, the committees, and me, we’ve heard that.”
ADA standards require accessible parking spaces within 75 feet of the building the parking lot serves.
But instead of 12 spaces initially proposed, Levering said the proposal now is to install four parking spaces closer to the Stone House, near the back of the building.
“They’re going to be right over by the building, not out in the middle, next to the tennis courts,” Levering said. “I don’t think that anybody is going to have their view of the park seriously impacted.”
He said the plan was to plant vegetation around the lot to make the view more palatable.
“It’s certainly not going to be some dense vegetation that a bad person can hide behind,” Levering said.
The lot’s entrance and exit will be on North Parkside Drive, Levering said, with entry and exit lanes forming a U-shape that would contain the spaces.
The parking lot is part of a $560,000 plan to renovate the Stone House Park, and that amount will likely decrease slightly if a stripped-down parking lot plan is approved, Levering said.
A state Department of Community and Economic Development grant will cover $460,000 of the cost.
The improvements were suggested after a 2021 study on areas of concern at the park by Architerra PC, Lehigh County.
Besides the lot, planned improvements to the park include replacing boardwalks and a viewing platform between the tennis courts and Old Man Echo; installing boulder walls to prevent erosion; and repairing and replacing wooden footbridges.
The potential renovations were discussed repeatedly in council and committee meetings over the years, Levering said.
Levering said that while installing ADA parking is a condition of the state grant, disability-accessible parking is a legal requirement that can’t be avoided.
“We’re lucky we haven’t been called out on ADA compliance before,” Levering said. “It has to be done. Folks with disabilities, the ADA is their bill of rights. It’s a good thing.”
He said the changes to the parking lot plan are slated for a vote at the borough council meeting Feb. 13.
“I believe it will pass easily,” Levering said of the new lot plan.
Resident Alan Shirk said that despite the changes to the plan, he remains against any kind of parking in the Stone House field.
“I think even one parking space is too much. Why disrupt that park like that?” Shirk said. “This would be like putting a parking lot on the White House lawn. I just don’t understand why the ADA is so rigid and inflexible.”
Shirk said he understood the need for handicap access but was concerned about the government overstepping its boundaries.
“It’s sort of like the warehouse issue,” he said. “This just seems like a big wheel and it’s just rolling.”
Levering said the goal of the parking lot is simply to comply with ADA requirements, and that borough officials don’t intend to disrupt a historic structure loved by the community.
“As a kid growing up, it (the Stone House) used to be open on a Friday night,” Levering said. “We used to go down there, there was a lady that made a dynamite cherry coke. (People) care about this place. The fact that we have people that care about the community to that extent, I think makes a strong community.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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