After persistent urging from various Franklin Avenue businesses and village organizations like the Western Property Owners Association and the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, the village acquired 116 Eleventh Street and expanded Lot 10W to provide supplemental parking in the area.

Garden City Center Associates (GCCA), care of the Albanese Organization, first owned the land but sold it to the village for $650,000. The lot, according to Public Works Director Robert Mangan, took the village six weeks to construct; it officially opened to the public at 6 a.m. Friday, Aug. 22 and can now accommodate 60 additional cars.

The opening is a long time coming, with much discussion amongst the board of trustees and frustrated residents who couldn't understand the village's delay in tackling a severe parking shortage that's plagued Garden City for years. Many in the village were pleased to hear the lot could finally provide adequate parking for customers who frequent Franklin Avenue businesses, including Barbatsuly Furs.

"The additional spaces have helped because more all-day parkers are able to take up the spaces, which freed up the one- and two-hour parking spots," Mark Barbatsuly, co-owner of Barbatsuly Furs, said. "It's not as congested and when we do need the space in a couple of weeks, there will be more of an opportunity for customers to park." Barbatsuly Furs, which owns 1040 Franklin Avenue, established its fur business back in 1936.

Barbatsuly added that although he's relieved the lot is finished, he hopes the village will now incorporate the buffer-strip, intended to separate the newly constructed lot from the Costellos' home located next door. According to Mangan, the 50-foot buffer strip, which will entail shrubbery and trees, will be incorporated this fall.

In March 2001, based upon the Planning Commission's recommendations, the village board voted 5 to 3 in favor of entering into negotiations to acquire 116 Eleventh Street from GCCA. The organization then tore down the vacant home on the property in December 2001 because it no longer made economic sense to continue paying taxes on an empty house. Then, because no further action had been taken to acquire the land, GCCA officials felt they had no other alternative but to apply to the village's Zoning Board of Appeals for a permit to construct a private parking lot.

Intended to serve the commercial community along the west side of Franklin Avenue, between Tenth and Eleventh Streets, the Board of Appeals granted the GCCA's application on October 22, 2002 and gave them a permit to construct the lot.

While some felt this was a way to alleviate the lack of parking in that area, others thought that developing a private lot was inconsistent with Garden City's Parking and Park Buffer Strip Plan, a plan that envisioned the uniform design and maintenance of municipally owned parking fields along the west side of Franklin Avenue.