The Village of Spencerport is applying to the Erie Canalway Grant Program’s 2022 Consolidated Funding Application.
The Village is seeking funding to create a strategic way to access Lester Merz Park, the Canalway Trail, and the Village’s downtown. Over the last 25 years, the Village has developed the canal area with amenities like a new gazebo, docking spaces, electric and water hookups, sewer pump-out stations, access to showers, and a historical trolley museum called the Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum.
Locals and visitors to the canal enjoy Lester Merz Park, and due to its growth and popularity along with the loss of parking in other areas of the village due to development, parking improvements are needed to expand access to these canal resources. The proposed parking area will have a park-like appearance with landscaping, with a center greenspace, and with plans to house the historical Spencerport bridge tender building in the future. This historical octagonal-shaped bridge tender building once sat near this location. In addition, electric vehicle charging stations will be at this site.
Leveraging these funds, more visitors will have access directly to the Erie Canalway trail, which is directly adjacent to the Lester Merz Park and the downtown area, being able to leave their vehicles at the Lester Merz Park parking lot. The build-out in the Depot and Canal Museum area has changed the available space for parking significantly, and this is a need that has been brought to the board’s attention by many visitors and residents.
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