BY REBECCA BENNETT — At the Nov. 16 Hyattsville City Council meeting, the council voted to renew a lease agreement with the United States Postal Service (USPS) for the parking lot at 4325 Gallatin Street. Execution of the lease is contingent on revised terms that would allow the city to convert the lot into a metered public lot, a city memo said.
Assistant City Administrator Jim Chandler said in a memo that the city anticipates additional demand for public parking with new commercial businesses along the Route 1 Corridor, along with Pyramid Atlantic moving into the Arcade Building next year.
The lot is made up of 30 spaces across from the Hyattsville Municipal Building and is currently being used to park police and other city vehicles. Earlier this year, the city said it expected the Hyattsville City Police Department to move to the former BB&T building no later than Oct. 2018.
City Administrator Tracey Nicholson said the city would have to identify an alternate location in which to park police vehicles before the lot could be transitioned to metered public parking.
“The previous lease, and the proposed terms of the lease renewal, is written in a way that do not allow the lot to be utilized as a paid public lot with pay stations or appropriate parking signage,” a city memo said.
Currently, the proposed lease terms say, “Licensee shall not have the right to make alterations, attach fixtures and erect additions, structures or signs in or upon the License Area.”
If USPS did not agree to the new terms, it would not be a deal-breaker, Nicholson said. “We just wanted to include that option up front,” she said.
The lease renewal would be for $818 per month and extend until Oct. 31, 2020.
