The City of Ansonia will receive a $483,000 state grant to make improvements on West Main Street, Gov. Dannel Malloy announced Thursday.
City officials applied for the grant last year in the hope that the work could transform the under-utilized municipal parking lot on West Main Street — an uninviting sea of old asphalt stretching from the Ansonia Rescue Medical Services to the Metro North train station — to an attractive place for people to park so they can, hopefully, visit businesses along Main Street.
There are about 185 spaces in the lot, but it is lucky to see 50 cars at any time Monday through Friday.
According to a press release from Malloy’s office, the $483,000 will be used for new granite curbs, brick paver strips, a concrete walkway, a grass planting strip, ornamental rail fencing, trees, and other street furniture, benches, trash receptacles, ornamental lights, and a new parking layout.
The under-utilized parking lot was identified as a place in need of improvement in a 2007 downtown parking plan.
The document, drafted by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, determined that Ansonia’s downtown had an abundance of parking — 1,322 spaces at the time. On-street parking in Ansonia can get busy in front of stores on Main Street, but the study pointed out there was lots of room in the West Main Street lot, an East Main Street lot and a parking lot on Main Street with some 50 spaces.
The city also received a $3,780 grant in April to plant new trees on West Main Street and other areas.
Ansonia’s $483,000 is among a total of $4,973,865 in Main Street Investment Fund grants awarded to 14 Connecticut municipalities Thursday.
Click here to read more about the program.
“Main Street Investment grants play an important role in strengthening economic development initiatives on the local level,” Malloy said while announcing the grants in Berlin. “This program is unique in that it builds a working partnership between state government and the smaller communities that are striving to strengthen their commercial centers and attract additional business.”
