The board of Selectmen recently considered two items concerning on-street parking in multi-family neighborhoods where parking is a scarce resource.
Bruce Park Ave
One was a proposal from Parking Services and Public Works to eliminate parking for roughly 7 cars along Bruce Park Ave, a dead end that runs parallel to the train tracks and I95.
The three Selectmen all said they were reluctant to approve the removal of on-street parking, even though the DPW engineer Michael Kiselak had cited safety concerns over sight lines when he first presented the proposal on March 9. He said it was in response to complaints from residents that it was dangerous to walk along the roadway where there are no sidewalks.
At that meeting, one family said tenants in their two-family property relied on the on-street parking. They noted their property had no driveway of its own. Further, they said their front yard was mostly ledge rock and much of it is town property.
Between the first and second read, more letters were submitted from the public, mostly expressing concern about the loss of on-street parking.
Mr. Kiselak reminded the Selectmen of the original recommendation from the Public Works Dept recommended to remove the 7 on-street spots was for safety.
He said while warning signage could be installed, it wouldn’t necessarily change driver behavior.
Camillo was reluctant.
“I don’t want to fix a problem that would create another, which basically effects somebody’s home value,” Camillo said. “Also, quality of life, having to walk (further) and creating another danger. If they’re parking down the road and it’s a dark street, you’re placing people in harm’s way. I would be against this.”
He said that while the town’s emergency services departments don’t favor speed bumps, it might work on a dead end and there are speed bumps in some locations in Greenwich.
“I know some people think they don’t slow drivers down. I disagree,” he added. “I think they do change behavior.”
Republican Selectwoman Lauren Rabin said hadn’t had a chance to visit the dead end herself but that cars parked on the street could be considered a traffic calming measure.
The Selectmen did not take a vote.
“We’ll continue to work with engineers to see what we can do without taking away the parking,” Camillo said.
Josephine Evaristo – Residential Parking Zone 6
A second proposal concerning on-street parking originated with Syl Pecora Jr whose family owns and rents out properties on Charles Street.
He circulated a petition to rescind Residential Parking Permit Program in Zone 6 on the block of Evaristo from Artic to Charles Street.
It was a rare instance of residents asking to remove part of a resident parking program. Parking Services doesn’t approve residential parking program requests lightly. They do a balancing act to manage a scarce resource.
LuAnn Bellantoni from Parking Services said in an email that in Zone 6, each household is eligible to obtain a resident parking sticker plus 2 visitor passes as long as they provide the required documentation.
The fee for a residential parking pass (no fee for the guest passes) is $29.00 for two years.
The fine for parking in a residential zone without a sticker is $55.00 or $110 after 15 days.
If a household has multiple cars, they can submit an application and receive 1 pass and sticker per vehicle, but only the first pass holder gets two visitor passes.
Residential Parking Permit holders still have to obey town rules and regulations including not parking by fire hydrants and obeying street sweeping and snow removal restrictions. Importantly, per Section 14-17.1, there is a 24-hour parking restriction on municipal property for all vehicles, meaning even if you have a residential parking permit sticker, you can’t leave your car in the same spot more than 24 consecutive hours. Each hour in excess of 24 hours constitutes a separate additional offense.
During the second read of the Pecora request, Syl Pecora Sr said the neighbors didn’t need the residential parking permit restriction from Artic to Charles because they had worked it out among themselves, including the funeral home and bike shop at the corners of Hamilton Ave and Artic and Charles respectively.
He said the funeral home guests needed to be able to park on Evaristo.
“It’s very important for them to have those parking spaces. We always allowed it because the funeral home was there beforehand,” he said, adding that the funeral home patrons should be able to park on Josephine Evaristo without getting a ticket.
He added that the end of Evaristo near Charles Street didn’t have the issue of employees from car dealerships parking on the street, which was the original purpose for the residential parking permit Zone 6.
“My brother-in-law’s house on Charles Street – the tenants have more than one car, they park on the side, which is Josephine Evaristo. The other people feel the same way. They have parking, but not enough for the houses they rent,” said Pecora Sr.
Democratic Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan noted that many of the petition signatures had come from residents from other streets in Chickahominy and Byram.
“I have some concerns. I am looking at the signers of the petition and most of them do not live on Josephine Evaristo Ave. Most of them live on roads that would benefit by this restriction being removed.”
Stone McGuigan abstained from the vote.
Camillo and Rabin both voted to approve the amendment to remove the resident-only restriction on Evaristo from Artic to Charles. It passed 2-0-1.
See also:
On Street Parking in Greenwich: The Last Frontier March 15, 2023