Commentary by Paul Kamen, December 20 2005

The Caruso Plan is unworkable as drawn, mainly due to the apparent lack of parking. Examples of other commercial districts in the region with similar footprints and square footage seem to require more than twice the parking shown by Caruso, and that's without even considering additional load to support racetrack customers.

Communications from a Caruso representative indicate that the flat grey area to the east of the development will not be surface-level parking as shown, but will be a four or five level parking garage. This will presumably meet the parking requirements of the various businesses. However, high-density fee parking in structures could be problematic for waterfront visitors engaged in non-commercial activites who will not have parking validation for short visits and may require all-day parking for water-related activities.

The Caruso Plan has also been criticized for excessive scale and density, insufficient setback from the shoreline and lack of new opportunities for water access.

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