Town officials say they’re monitoring use of a parking space at an increasingly busy intersection downtown, following safety concerns about blocked sight lines.
Motorists approaching Maple and Main Streets, near the new main entrance to New Canaan Library, often are prevented from seeing northbound traffic on Main due to large vehicles parking in a spot on the southwest corner of the intersection, according to Parking Commissioner Marley Thackray.
Thackray said during the Parking Commission’s most recent meeting that residents have spoken to her personally about the safety concern—one that she shares as someone who travels through the area multiple times per day—and that it came up on New Canaan Moms in June.
“This comes on the heels of how nobody wants to lose any more parking space, but I literally say a Hail Mary every time I go through this intersection, because I can’t see anything,” Thackray said during the Commission’s Aug. 2 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.
Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg said she did reach out to those parking large trucks in the space to ensure they try to leave it for regularly sized vehicles and continue to abide by the two-hour limit.
“We really do not want to lose any more parking spaces in town, and making that no-parking area where the hashed off lines are, making it a little bit larger will take away a parking spot,” Miltenberg said.
She added, “The feedback I’m getting is that they are no longer parking big vehicles that would block that intersection, that view.”
Miltenberg did note that, even with the oversized vehicles parking elsewhere, other vehicles do pull into the space and “people are still having problems with seeing.”
“I will look into this a little bit further, but I was hoping just moving the large vehicles that are really blocking that view might help so that we don’t have to lose another parking space,” she said.
Miltenberg asked Thackray whether she’s still hearing about public safety concerns. Thackray responded that many people are away during the summer. The Commission agreed to relay any new concerns to Miltenberg before taking further action.
Commissioner Drew Magratten said he hoped that construction at the library would also help “smooth things out.” He appeared to refer to construction of the “green” at Main and Cherry Streets, a project on track for completion this fall that will create additional approaches to enter the library and relieve some demand for parking on the Maple Street side.