Neighbors were concerned when the parklet on Lester and Martin became a parking lot. When we asked Stephen Brigham, Project Executive, for an explanation, he sent the following graphic and explanation:
"Attached is a graphic of the four "Basin/Parks" along Lester Street that will tie into the Jefferson Park loop trail that has been discussed with the Grant Road Improvement team. The work will be in phases since some of this is tied to the improvements on Elm Street which will occur later in 2018. Some demolition is scheduled for later in 2017 and the remaining demolition will be in 2018. All demolitions along Lester Street in the Jefferson Park Historic District will be coordinated with Jefferson Park per our agreement.
The dotted orange line is intended to represent the Banner campus walking connections to the Jefferson Park history trail that was central to the various grant proposals we all worked on. We did salvage some of the trees from the prior mini-park at Martin and Lester, and of course there will be much more landscaping per the attached drawing. We also hope to be able to blend some of the salvaged Polo/ROTC building bricks somewhere into the park - we don't have those details yet." ...and the parking lot "We're trying to deal with the increasing demand for parking for patients, staff and all the construction personnel. However, some of the parking demand and vehicular traffic on the campus will shift to the North Campus Health Center at Campbell and Allen Road when we open that facility in late 2017 and early 2018. In the meantime, the temporary parking lot on Lester and Martin is essential to help keep project and staff parking out of the neighborhood. Soon it will be transformed into a park, so I appreciate everyone's patience while we sequence our work."
(Stephen Brigham, Banner Construction)
