Parking Study Underway to Examine Downtown Hyannis

HYANNIS – A large-scale parking study is currently underway in downtown Hyannis.

Barnstable town manager Mark Ells said the idea is to examine the town’s parking assets in the area and extrapolate needs which need to be addressed.

He cited assets like the lot on North Street, available cooperative space at the nearby Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority property and Barnstable Municipal Airport property as subjects for examination.

However, he said the most important areas to consider are public spaces, not private.

“We want to know where these assets are, make sure we’re using them effectively, make sure we’re communicating about availability effectively, and then figure out how much more parking do we need and where we need it,” Ells said.

Open air parking in the harbor and town hall parking lot have also come up in discussion, he said. But he also generally classified those issues as “isolated.”

Ells said he expects the study to continue into 2017.