Caught by License Plate Reader, Parking Violator Faces Uncertain Future

Using a newly issued license plate reader, Parking Bureau workers caught on to a New Canaan man who for about three months had been displaying a friend’s permit to park in the Lumbeyard Lot—skirting the rules to use the most coveted commuter lot in town. Now, parking officials are trying to decide what to do as that man apologizes and requests that the town renew the permit he previously had held for the Richmond Hill lot (all of two blocks further away from the train station). The waiting list for the Lumberyard Lot is about seven years, the Richmond Hill lot three. At their regular meeting Thursday, members of the Parking Commission weighed just what to do with the violator and decided ultimately that more research of the Town Charter is needed to clarify the group’s power in these situations. “We feel that we need to do something to deter this from happening in the future,” Commissioner Pamela Crum said at the meeting, held in the Art Room at Lapham Community Center.