A decision by Haverhill city councilors could come as early as next week on whether to endorse a plan to open two Merrimack Street parking areas to reuse suggestions from developers.
At the request of Economic Development and Planning Director William Pillsbury Jr., the council voted Tuesday to postpone action on requests, including one by Mayor James J. Fiorentini to declare as surplus four city-owned lots comprising the Riverfront Promenade parking area adjacent to Haverhill Bank. Pillsbury told councilors he wanted to discuss the matter with all nine councilors present. Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O’Brien was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
As WHAV reported Monday, redevelopment of the Riverfront Promenade area and the Herbert H. Goecke Memorial Parking Deck was cited as a “key recommendation” from a recent Transformative District Initiative (TDI) study and draft design plan. Mayor James J. Fiorentini wrote to councilors the city would “explore whether or not private investors are interested in investing in any of the land which the city owns in the Merrimack Street area.”
The Merrimack Street TDI design plan by Utile, in conjunction with quasi-public agency MassDevelopment, is “pointing us in the direction for major redevelopment,” according to Pillsbury. “It starts the ball rolling, begins to retake some ground (from the original urban renewal project of the 1970s).”
Don’t do it