Parking Bylaw changes
Post date: Oct 02, 2019 12:34:16 PM
Messages sent to Board attached below.
The Chief's memo outlines proposed changes to parking bylaws in an effort to simplify parking and update as needed. I would recommend discussing at this meeting and taking any related action at the next meeting.
As his memo notes, we gathered some data over the summer tracking behaviors for some items already on the books and also how changed spaces were performing to see if additional controls were needed yet.
While these regulations can be changed by vote of the Board as needed, most of the existing rules have been on the books for quite a while and we felt that re-evaluating what was occurring and what we were trying to achieve, relative to the downside of doing so, was warranted.
The questions we considered included:
Is there a hazardous condition that needs to be controlled?
Do we need to be concerned about turnover of spaces in a location and at what times and intervals?
How can we simplify where ever possible?
Is the control addressing a significant problem or is the control designed for the limited bad behavior generating more negative outcomes?
Now that conditions on the ground have changed, how to we catch up old rules to new conditions?
All Night Parking - the need for control is to have streets clear in the winter months for plowing and snow removal. No significant concerns at other times of year.
Parking prohibited - clarifying that parking in the Spring Street lot is in marked spaces only; noting that from time to time vehicles have parked along curb in driveway. Removing reference to parking that used to be on Spring Street in front of the lot which has been removed in the redesign (those short term spaces have moved into the lot itself.) Also, as a result of the redesign, the spaces on the other side of the street (in front of B&L) have been retained as a Service Zone (originally, they were going to be removed and the request was to retain them for deliveries.)
Time Limit parking - removing control on Park Street - we saw less of a public need to turnover those spots and have found that most of our attention to the parking there is waiving overtime enforcement in recognition of various events being held in the vicinity (reunions, previews, admissions programming, WTF matinees, funerals, etc.). We have been able to generally maintain spaces for Farmers Market by placing cones in spots over night rather than a bylaw (which hasn't been viable the past 2 seasons with the relocation of the market and lot); we would like to continue to support the location of the market without codifying it into bylaws.
