It’s likely to be at least three years before any major work would be scheduled on the Union Street (Rt. 259) lift bridge over the Erie Canal in Spencerport, but when that work does happen, business owners want to have a plan in place to help them cope with the closure.
That’s why a small group of merchants, business owners and community leaders gathered on February 27 to begin the process of making preparations for future long-term closures as well as any short-term closures which may affect the village.
Donna Peasley of Green Hut, LLC, in Spencerport, organized the meeting.
In addition to business owners, Village Trustee Carol Nellis-Ewell (who also owns a business in the village) and Ogden Supervisor Gay Lenhard attended.
Peasley noted that even recent weekend short-term closures meant a drop in business for Green Hut, which is located in the Barefoot Landing Plaza north of the canal.
“The next time, it could be a long time that the bridge is down,” Peasley said. “I don’t like to do things at the last minute. Two days ahead is too late to mitigate complications.”
Trustee Nellis-Ewell provided attendees with the most up-to-date information regarding future bridge closures that the village has received from the state.
She said DPW Superintendent Tom West had contacted the NYS Thruway Authority, the NYSDOT, and NYS Bridge Engineering and both the Thruway Authority and NYSDOT knew nothing about any scheduled bridge work for 2014 – barring anything which might need to be replaced following this year’s inspection.
Officials at NYS Bridge Engineering told the village, “they are in the investigating phase of the rehab design. After inspection is done this summer to see exactly what it needs, they will start the design,” Trustee Nellis-Ewell read from an email sent to her by West. “They are not anticipating any rehab until construction year 2017, and they will be keeping us and the public informed with meetings when the time gets closer.”
She said when work is done in 2017, the bridge could be closed for six months, but an actual timeline would not be drawn up until after design work is done.
Donna Peasley said she feels many minds working together can come up with creative ideas and generate energy to keep customers from out of the area coming to their businesses during lift bridge closures.
“We depend on our ‘irregulars’ as much as our regulars,” Peasley said of Green Hut’s customers. She noted that during recent closures, regular customers found their way to the shop, but the ‘irregular’ customers did not make the effort.
“We can’t make a living on Spencerport people alone,” Peasley explained.
Those attending decided to start their effort by developing a map to help customers – especially those from outside the village – to negotiate bridge repair related detours and easily find their way to the goods and services they are seeking in Spencerport.
It was noted that merchants in the Village of Brockport had promoted their business district during recent bridge closures with creative marketing and events including “bridge specials” to draw people to Brockport despite temporary inconveniences.
Jill Cordts, president of the Spencerport Area Chamber of Commerce, suggested merchants could pull funds together for advertising and marketing efforts as part of their plan for dealing with future closures of the lift bridge.
