Mystic ― When Rhode Island resident Lisa Roy arrived in downtown Mystic on Thursday with her sister, Theresa Tuzzolino, who was visiting from Kansas City, they saw a long line of cars and anticipated having a difficult time driving around to find a parking spot.

As they drove on West Main Street, they spotted a sign for a parking lot on Pearl Street, and decided to park there for a few hours to walk downtown and go shopping.

“I don’t mind paying a little bit to park,” said Roy. “I think that’s fine as long as it’s in a safe place and easy to get in and out of.”

Roy had found a spot in a new parking lot that opened at 1 Pearl St. in July. It comes at a time when Mystic continues to face a shortage of parking.

Mystic Parking LLC, under owner Leo Roche, opened the parking lot with 22 public, pay-to-park spaces, including 2 handicap accessible spaces, at a rate of $5.50 per hour. There are an additional four parking spaces reserved for tenants of a two-family rental building on site. The parking lot is open from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The site is designed so people drive in through an entrance on Pearl Street and then are met by an attendant to purchase a ticket at a kiosk, Roche explained. People then leave the parking lot through a separate exit onto Pearl Street.

Roche, who owns The Harp and Hound pub on Pearl Street, said he came up with the idea to open the parking lot after talking with John M. Burke, a parking and transportation consultant who analyzed downtown parking issues as part of a study of the issue.

Roche said he learned from Burke that if all 26 spots are full, that’s about equivalent to the number of parking spaces from the drawbridge to Bank Square Books.

“That’s a lot of parking we’ve taken off the street,” Roche said.

Roche said the parking lot filled up most days in July and August, but is beginning to quiet down a little as September starts, though weekends remain busy.

A former Bank of America branch had used part of the site for parking, but the lot became dormant after the bank closed. Tenants from the residential building also parked on part of the site, Roche said.

Mystic Parking LLC came up with a plan, approved by the Town of Groton, for the 26 parking spots on the site, and making improvements, such as widening the entrance and installing new fencing and lighting, Roche said.

Mystic Parking LLC also installed conduit lines in case they are needed in the future for electric vehicle charging stations, he added.

The new lot is the latest effort to address the parking shortage downtown. The Town of Stonington has added 13 spots along Cottrell Street by making it one-way, with plans to add 30 to 40 spots at the Fourth District Voting Hall on Broadway. Groton and Stonington officials also plan to work on creating paid on-street parking in the downtown area.

Mystic Seaport Museum has opened 200 spots in its south lot off of Route 27 to non-museum visitors who then take a shuttle bus downtown. Chelsea Groton Bank has also made 24 spots available in its two lots. Both the museum and bank lots charge a fee.

k.drelich@theday.com