The Melrose Messenger

City Council Approves St. Mary’s Parking Lease

By Ellen Putnam

In this week’s City Council meeting, councilors reversed the decision they had made during the Appropriations and Oversight Committee meeting earlier this month, and voted to renew the city’s parking lease with St. Mary’s of the Annunciation Parish.

The 53 parking spaces in question make up the majority of what is known as the Larrabee Municipal Lot, which is located between Main Street and Myrtle Street, and between West Foster Street and Grove Street.

The Appropriations and Oversight Committee had voted not to renew the initial deal that was proposed: a one-year lease that reflected a $7,000 increase over last year’s rate (from $35,000 to $42,000). The measure lost in the committee meeting 3 to 4 (with two members voting “Present” and two absent).

Councilors had expressed concern about how sustainable continuing to lease parking might be for the city, given previous rent increases the city has seen. Others noted that businesses and residents rely on the continued availability of the parking for the vitality of downtown Melrose.

You can read our previous coverage of the discussion around these parking spaces here.

Soon after that meeting, the Mayor’s Office was able to negotiate a three-year lease with the Archdiocese of Boston (which negotiates on behalf of St. Mary’s) starting at $39,000 per year and increasing to $43,000 in the final year of the lease.

A number of residents spoke during public comment at Monday’s City Council, when the final resolution to the issue was scheduled to occur.

Former city councilor and state representative Mike Festa reflected on the work that generations of elected officials and business owners have put into making downtown Melrose a lively business district, including providing easily available parking. He also noted that older people are often unable to walk long distances and rely on convenient parking to be able to access shops and restaurants downtown.

Other residents and business owners expressed their support for continuing to lease the parking. Richard Solari, who owns Giacomo’s, noted that the nearby businesses are open to finding other solutions, but that they would need a longer timeline to find a solution that would make up for the loss of the spaces behind his restaurant. Patricia Boni, the owner of Cuts N Such salon, expressed her concern that, especially during the winter, her older clients would be likely to drive to the mall for easy parking instead of visiting businesses on Main Street, if parking were not easily available.

City Councilors Maya Jamaleddine, Elizabeth Kowal, and Devin Romanul changed their votes from “No” to “Yes” this week, and Jason Chen changed his voted from “Present” to “Yes.” Manjula Karamcheti and John Obremski, who had been absent at the previous Appropriations meeting, also voted “Yes.”

Councilors noted that they changed their votes because they believed the three-year lease was a better deal for the city than the previously proposed one-year lease.

Kim Vandiver and Ryan Williams voted “No,” and both suggested that parking in downtown Melrose could be better managed without the need to lease spaces from St. Mary’s, and that perhaps the space could be better used for something other than parking.

The issue of leasing parking spaces from St. Mary’s brought up larger questions of land use and development in Melrose, and that carried over into the discussion of the results from a study into what should be done with the Ripley School property, which will soon be vacant, and the current police station building, which will be vacant once the Melrose Police Department moves into their new building on the current Beebe School site.

The City Council had allocated $60,000 in free cash last year for a study on what should be done with these buildings, once they are no longer needed for their current uses. Based on community engagement and economic analysis, the study concluded that the best use of both plots would be to sell them for a mixed-use development, in the case of the police station, and a mix of open space and housing, in the case of the Ripley School. This would make the city no longer responsible for maintenance of the two properties, and would add them to the city’s property tax rolls.

While the study results are preliminary, the city can use the results in negotiations with developers who might purchase the properties. Unlike with private sales, the city can create a legally binding contract dictating what developers are allowed to do with the property. (And for those who have been following the city’s housing discussions, a developer would not, generally speaking, be permitted to purchase the property and then use state housing law Chapter 40B to get around the provisions of the contract they signed with the city.)

One suggestion that had been made during the community engagement process was to use the police station property as additional municipal parking. City Planner Lori Massa responded to that suggestion, noting, “If the city decided to prioritize parking and pay for the demolition of the police station and continue to hold it for municipal parking, that would be a decision that could still be put forward, but it’s not our recommendation. We would prefer to see active uses on the site to provide additional space for businesses and housing and to add to the vibrancy of downtown. We can utilize our existing parking and make sure that we’re managing it and using it in the best way, and not taking up this valuable lot for that use.”

Earlier this year, the City Council voted down a proposed $70,000 free cash expenditure to update the previous downtown parking study from 2012. However, the discussion around the St. Mary’s parking spaces and the police station suggests that there is still more on the topic of parking in downtown Melrose that city councilors, business owners, and residents alike are eager to discuss.

Posted July 24th, 2026