4 thoughts on “Local Couple Seeks To Establish ‘New Canaan Valet Services’ Downtown

  1. Thank you for the overview of our presentation during the Police Commission meeting. As owners of the business, we were very pleased to be able to present our vision and we look forward to our next opportunity to clarify and enlighten the commission. One note not mentioned is that a huge part of our business plan is that parking for all handicapped residents and visitors will always be completely free. We are 100% operational and currently serving local private events. I should also clarify something, might seem small to some, but our goal is to have valet stands “InTown” New Canaan. We prefer InTown vs Downtown. Thank you again for the nice overview. We look forward to taking the next steps in the process.

    • Thanks for your input Rocky, you make an excellent point. You would be surprised to learn that we have the spots to park the cars, but the issue is whether the Town of New Canaan will allow us to have the stands. Over the past 3 months we’ve studied the parking availability on Friday and Saturday nights In Town. Then, we consulted the Town of New Canaan Parking Bureau, and met with them. We met them in person with a representative of the Town of New Canaan, the Parking Bureau, and the Chamber to discuss our idea and our parking plan to get their input. We then presented our parking plan to the full Parking Commission, and put forth our parking plan to utilize unused parking spaces in the very back of the Park Street Municipal Lot. Our parking plan, if approved, would not affect any spots traditionally being used by residents or visitors. We would only use the most far away spaces which are traditionally going unused. And, in using those largely unused spaces, we would be able to offer unlimited local handicapped residents, and handicapped visitors, free valet services. This would give them much better access to our restaurants without having to engage in the drop off and pick up dance that is happening now. You’ve probably seen this drop off dance with the hazard lights of cars blinking, taking up an entire lane, or blocking Forrest Street entirely. We’d also offer these same services to able bodied residents. Our parking plan would also allow our senior residents to have much easier access to our restaurants, and with restaurants having the ability to easily validate valet claim tickets, it essentialy means that for customers the valet service could be free. So, by using parking spacess that, based on 90 days of research, in the busy months of Summer, are traditionally not being used, we hope to help partially solve the parking woes so many NewCanaanites talk about. It is an excellent point that you make Rocky, but one we have considered carefully and one that we have planned for. Our entire goal in this process is to improve the parking opportunities for residents and visitors, and in doing so we allow better access for people with limited mobility. We hope to have the opportunity to give it a trial run and see if the community likes the result. Thank you again for your input.

  2. This is exactly what the town needs and always needed for a long time…no more having to wait for someone to go to there car and you take the spot when they pull out…especially if you have trouble walking and can’t park somewhere else because it’s to far away…good luck…

Leave a Reply to Billy MacLeod Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *