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AVOCA — Parking restrictions are impacting local businesses on Main Street, and one shop owner brought his concerns to council Thursday.
John Simyan, owner of Patty’s Subdivision hoagie shop, told council members he hasn’t been getting many customers since the private parking lot across the street from the old borough building was closed off.
“I ran into customers and they say there’s nowhere to pull off and no parking,” he said. “I’m looking for help.”
Council president John Boone said he is unsure why the lot was closed off.
Simyan came to council for advice on what to do about the situation, and said he’s not the only business impacted by the lack of parking.
“I’m looking for advice, help, or any input,” he said. “Since that parking lot closed, it affected everybody. There’s an apartment building down the road that gobbles up every parking spot on this street. I’m within weeks of going out of business due to this.”
Boone said the best option to fix the parking issue is tearing down the old borough building and turning the space into a public parking lot.
“That’s one of the reasons why we’re going to demolish the old borough building,” he said. “That’s our biggest section of the business district in town. I know parking is tough there.”
Unfortunately, the tentative date to begin tearing down the building isn’t until sometime in January.
“That’s an assumption,” Boone said of the January date. “We have to do the Historical Antiquity Study that the state is going to do. They do that with old businesses to make sure there’s no historical significance to the building to prevent it from being demolished.”
In other business Thursday, council members:
• Re-hired 17 part-time police officers for the fourth quarter of 2017.
• Donated $50 for a half-page ad in the Pittston Area boys basketball program.