St. Armands leaders discuss alley needs

When St. Armands Circle visitors walk out of the parking garage on Adams Drive, merchants and property owners don’t want their first sight to be a dirty alley.

The St. Armands Business Improvement District held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss options for improving the alley that runs between the garage and the northeast quadrant of the shopping district.

Those in attendance discussed initiatives including repaving the alley, consolidating trash receptacles and burying power lines, but any final plan for the area is still to be determined. At the end of the meeting, held on the ground floor of the St. Armands garage, multiple people in attendance expressed a desire to plot out a comprehensive project to address as much of the Circle’s needs as possible — even if that took longer to come together.

“Let’s do it once and get it over with,” Armel Jewelers Owner Michael Melnick said. “It’s for everyone’s benefit.”

Garbage was a primary point of emphasis during the meeting. City staff members said the use of different types of dumpsters required different trucks to come and pick up the trash. Brandy Wiesner, the BID’s operations manager, suggested working to unify and centralize waste storage could help clean up the alley.

BID board member Mindy Kauffman said businesses using different private recycling contractors also created additional clutter, a point city staff echoed.

“If we can come to some understanding on recycling and solid waste, that would reduce some of those challenges,” said Todd Kucharski, the Public Works general manager.

The group also expressed an interest in burying the power lines in the alley. City Parking Manager Mark Lyons said staff explored that possibility when building the garage, though the city did not have the budget to do so. Lyons said estimates placed the cost around $750,000 and that such a project would also pose logistical challenges that would need to be addressed.

The city has already authorized a project to repave the alley, with work set to begin later this summer. Although the city would incur some additional expenses if that construction were delayed, Kucharski said he would speak to city administration to see if the plans could be put off.