Watertown City Council decides to remove planters in front of Key Bank
Jul. 6—WATERTOWN — Removing two unfinished cement planters in front of the downtown Key Bank will cost the city $38,600 and net just one handicapped parking space.
City Council members on Thursday unanimously agreed to tear up two cement planters under construction in front of the building on Washington Street after owners Jake Johnson and Robert D. Ferris convinced them that every park space is needed downtown.
The two 10-foot by 10-foot concrete planters are part of its $3.9 million streetscape project designed to make that area of Washington Street safer for pedestrians.
During the hourlong meeting, Ferris unsuccessfully lobbied council members to put back all four spots in front of the Key Bank.
"We still need more parking. I don't mean just around our building, I mean around the buildings around the city," Ferris said.
The city had asked the two building owners to pay for the planters being removed. They said it was the responsibility of the city.
The two building owners have previously said that they were unaware of the two planters would be built in front of the Key Bank until work started last month.
However, Michael A. Lumbis told council members that he and Johnson exchanged a series of text messages on June 1 and that Johnson was told that the building was losing parking as result of the construction project.
"I'm not going to lose sleep over it," Johnson texted Lumbis.
Council's decision to remove the planters will delay the completion of the streetscape project by about two months, Lumbis said.
"It's frustrating but we'll do as it directed by council," Lumbis said.
Barton & Loguidice, the lead engineering firm on the project, will have to redesign that area now that the planters will be removed, he said.
The city and general contractor, CCI, Canastota, also will have to price out the work and then council members will have to approve a change order for it, Lumbis said. The actual work to remove the two planters will take at least a week.
City officials had hoped to complete the entire streetscape project by the end of the summer.
The two planters are part of the city's efforts to improve pedestrian safety around the Gov. Roswell P. Flower Monument at Washington and Stone streets, near where a woman was struck and killed in 2019.
According to city officials, eliminating the planters results in creating a handicapped spot in front of the building.
Another one was already planned in front of the bank. Two other parking spaces will be created on nearby Stone Street and another handicapped spot will be created in front of an adjacent building.
