Town officials voted 3-1 to uphold a $30 ticket incurred by a New Canaan man who parked on the grass at Talmadge Hill Train Station one morning when he was running late.
The ticketed man told members of the Parking Commission at their most recent meeting that the train was already approaching when he parked west of (below) the tracks at Talmadge Hill to catch the 7:16 a.m. train.
“I could hear the train,” the man recalled at the meeting, held Nov. 9 at Town Hall. “I could not drive to the other side. I would have done that and run back for the train, which I have done several times. However, the barrier was being lowered so it would have been impossible for me to miss the train and not park on the grass.”
He added that the next train would’ve come through at 7:37 a.m.
Commissioners Peter Ogilvie, Pam Crum and Chris Hering voted to uphold the ticket, while Keith Richey voted to void. Commissioner Stuart Stringfellow was not in attendance.
Ogilvie said to the man during the public hearing: “So you were counting on finding an empty space in that particular tier, and the fact that there were empty spaces in the next tier up, you didn’t have time for that?”
Ogilvie later noted that the man lives near the station.
“He knows exactly how long it takes and he is complaining that if he had parked in a legal space then he would have to wait 20 minutes. That doesn’t cut it with me. He has been doing this for three years and he is complaining now. So I uphold.”
Hering said he is a daily train commuter and that while he empathizes with the man, “I think candidly it is consistent to uphold it because I think we uphold other tickets for lesser affairs, whether it be parking out of a parking spot, and I think it should encourage people to park in legal spots.”
Crum agreed, saying that while she appreciated the man had never incurred a ticket for parking on the grass before and “I understand when you are racing for the train,” still “when living that close you do not have as many things to deal with as far as traffic goes.”
Only Richey voted to void the ticket. He said during the hearing that the man had lodged “a pretty good appeal.”
“We can imagine the pressure,” he told the appellant. “The train is coming. You have got to park your car.”