SYRACUSE -- On Thursday, the Trolley parking lot behind the Museum of Science and Technology will be shut down, and construction will begin on a state-of-the-art, multimillion dollar stormwater storage facility.
Matt Millea, Deputy Onondaga County Executive for Physical Services, says the Clinton Stormwater Storage Facility will act as a catch basin and help keep millions of gallons of untreated sewage from flowing into Onondaga Lake.
“Beneath the parking lot there will be a huge storage system, and what that will do is make sure the water stays here and that it is contained and it is not running into Onondaga Creek and polluting the creek or Onondaga Lake" he says.
With the closing of the Trolley Lot, more than two hundred people who rent parking spaces there daily will have to look elsewhere.
Millea says, “Murburo Parking is working with all of the folks in this lot to find a location in close proximity so they can stay close to work.”
As an alternative to the Trolley Lot, the county is encouraging visitors to park in one of the fifteen parking lots or garages located downtown, including the Federal Lot off of Washington Street, the Atrium Garage off of South Franklin Street, the Clinton Street Garage, and the Center Armory Garage which is right next to the Trolley Lot.
"There’s ample parking, whether it is city-owned or privately owned, within a five minute walk. For anybody that is coming downtown, whether it is for work or somebody is patronizing one of the great businesses in Armory Square” continues Millea.
The Clinton Wastewater Storage Facility is expected to be completed by December of 2013. At that point the Trolley Lot will reopen.
