Parking Spaces

The owners of Hagerstown Mini Storage near the Valley Mall plan to open another self-storage facility on the city's east end. Hagerstown Mini Storage East would go on 37 acres along Route 40 and Interstate 71, company President Randy Cohen said. The facility will have 750 storage units and 150 parking spaces for campers and recreational vehicles, Cohen said. He said construction could begin by the end of August and the facility could open by January 2000.

During a press conference Wednesday, proposed designs for the expansion of the Washington County Free Library on South Potomac Street in Hagerstown will be unveiled. Architect Brent Feight of Bushey Feight Morin Architects Inc. briefly described the project during Tuesday's joint meeting of the Hagerstown City Council and the Washington County Commissioners. The architect is close the end of the design phase and bid documents should be prepared by mid-April 2010, he said. A 40,000-foot expansion of the existing building and work on adjacent properties to make way for 150 parking spaces is planned, Feight said.

Auto parts store planned A new auto parts store is planned for construction early next year in front of the Food Lion at the Intersection of Virginia Avenue and Halfway Boulevard. Autozone Inc. of Memphis, Tenn., plans to build an 8,500-square-foot store starting in January, according to a site plan filed with Washington County. The store would have 12 employees, 350 customers per day and 44 parking spaces. Hi-Gear Auto, another auto parts store, recently closed its location outside Valley Mall.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Hundreds of people attending graduation at Waynesboro Area Senior High School will be shuttled to the football field on school buses through a system approved Tuesday by the school board. The high school lost 251 parking spaces as part of ongoing construction, Superintendent Barry Dallara wrote in a memo to the board. Family and friends of graduates will be asked to park at the middle school and Summitview Elementary School campuses, where nine or 10 buses will take them to Indian Stadium.

Downtown parking rules discussed The Hagerstown Planning Commission resumed discussions Wednesday on decreasing the number of parking spaces that developers are required to provide with rehabilitated buildings downtown. The existing three-space requirement is unreasonable and makes things too difficult for developers to restore buildings for residential use, said Stuart Bass, the city's comprehensive planner. Planning commission members expressed concern that the parking space requirement is scaring developers away.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - People attending Waynesboro Area Senior High School's graduation Friday will be asked to park away from the school's construction site and board shuttle buses taking them to the ceremony. Family and friends of graduates will be asked to park at the middle school and Summitview Elementary School campuses, where nine or 10 buses will take them to Indian Stadium. The pickup point following graduation will be just east of the intersection of Virginia Avenue and East Second Street.

City of Hagerstown officials want to let the public know that the Home Pride Parking Grant Program expires in three months. Property owners in the eligible area who meet grant conditions can get money to demolish run-down garages or create off-street parking spaces, according to a city news release. The eligible areas include the downtown area, Jonathan Street area, Potomac/Broadway area, North Mulberry/North Locust Street area, South Prospect Street and the area around Washington County Hospital, the city said.

A convenience store is scheduled to open on Jefferson Boulevard near Smithsburg, where Lewis Orchards is closing its farm stand. Plans on file with Washington County's planning department say a High's Dairy Store with gas pumps has been approved for the site. There are about 75 High's Dairy Stores in the region, according to the Hanover, Md.-based company's website. A site plan shows a 3,500-square-foot building, with 23 parking spaces. The plan estimates around 650 customers a day. County records say a building permit was issued Aug. 31. Sunday was the last day Lewis Orchards' roadside market was open at 22550 Jefferson Blvd.

The Maryland Theatre said it will be prepared for comedian George Carlin's two shows Friday night, although parking will be difficult, Executive Director Patricia Wolford said Wednesday. "The little things that people don't think about like fire escapes can be a huge hassle" to clean up, Wolford said. She said that while parking spaces were being cleared in front of the theater on Potomac Street, "Parking is probably going to be very difficult," considering many other parking spaces will not be cleared for the 2,600 ticket holders for each show.

To the editor: The readers of the Herald-Mail are in for a treat: No Iraq civil war, no Bible verses, no hospital complaints, no political arguments, no grammar correction, no ill-treated veterans outrage, no gas price increase anger, no teacher salary pros and cons, no illegal immigrant resentment; only a subject that affects everyone: Handicapped parking. All of us have seen the blue signs with the white wheelchair. The question is, where are those signs located? The new post office near the Long Meadow Shopping Center has six regular parking spaces, closest to the building entrance.