Lake Street project to begin; parking options outlined

Suez will begin to replace water lines on Lake Street in Owego on May 15. The project is expected to be complete some time in July. Then, NYSEG will begin work with a targeted completion date of Sept. 30, 2017. 

During the project, Lake Street will be closed to parking and traffic from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The street will be opened during the evening and on the weekends.

Tioga County, Tioga County Tourism, and the Historic Owego Marketplace have been working together to help visitors and customers access optimum parking.  

Tioga County recently expanded the Tioga County Lot off of Park Street. That lot is designated for Tioga County employees on Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Others can use it from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday, and also on Saturday and Sunday. 

The St. Patrick’s School parking lot (up to the fence) on Front Street to the rope across the lot is also available for parking for employees of downtown businesses and tenants of downtown residences. 

There is a large parking lot behind the Coburn Free Library on Main Street, and Tioga State Bank has offered the lot across from the Community Shop on North Avenue for business owners and employees to park in. 

The Village owned Hyde Lot (between John’s Fine Foods and Chemung Canal Bank) is also available and can be entered on Temple Street, between John’s and the Owego Police Department building.

There will be two walking-themed campaigns coming out in the next few weeks to encourage walking for those that work in the village. Watch for announcements. 

The goal of these campaigns is to get business owners and employees of businesses and local governments to help customers find parking in the Central Business District. Parking in the Central Business District has been a long-standing issue and by working together, Tioga County and the Historic Owego Marketplace hope to minimize parking problems while Lake Street is closed and change parking habits so that clients and customers are offered convenient parking while patronizing downtown businesses.

The Historic Owego Marketplace thanks all those that have worked to minimize inconveniences during this project.