Town officials say they’re thinking about installing eight more parking kiosks in downtown New Canaan, on Main Street and possibly part of Locust Avenue.
An expansion of the new paid system that took effect on Elm Street and South Avenue in October, the kiosks on Main would cost $90,774, officials said during Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting.
At first, the town didn’t think it would be able to convert Main from two-hour to paid spots, according to First Selectman Dionna Carlson.
“We didn’t think we could do it on Main because it’s a state road, and then in further discussions realized that you can, because it’s not part of the roadway,” Carlson said during the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So it’s just a discussion to start and if we even want to potentially pursue those, we’d have to have it in the budget.”
If added to the budget, the approximately $90,000 cost for the kiosks would be bonded, town Budget Manager Ryan Stacy said.
The comments came during a discussion of capital projects in the area of “general government”—namely, the Affordable Housing Committee ($225,000 proposed for professional fees), Information Technology and Parking.
Carlson noted that the town has received complaints about Uber Eats drivers hanging around Locust Avenue as a launch point for pickups. If Main Street switches to paid parking, she said, the paid spots would run as far south as the library/Cherry Street.
Further study and more discussion are needed before the expansion, she said.
The town has also received complaints about parking on Forest Street, she said.
“We’ve gotten a lot of complaints and at the time we rolled this original parking plan out, there was no thought that we could do it,” Carlson said. “So this is just a placeholder. We really need to absorb what we’ve already done.”
Though town officials have said publicly that they’ve received mostly positive feedback on the changes already made on Elm and South, downtown merchants have voiced concerns over the change to paid without a commensurate increase in short-term/15-minute parking spaces.
More control by our First selectman against wishes of the populace and retailers. We must push back. No no no. Elm Street is not working.
PLEase NO paid parking on main street
It’s awful‼️ you get s max of two hours for the day. You can’t come back later if you forget something, not to mention some dinners and movies run over 2 hours so we’ve often just said, let’s go somewhere else. Also, it changes the feel of the town to a more commercial one, like Greenwich which is a shame.
The businesses I’ve spoken to say it’s reducing store traffic which is making the expensive rent that much more challenging. Like we don’t have enough retail turnover already! Let’s call it what it really is, another cash grab🤦🏻♂️
The parking on Elm Street is just not working. I experienced it yesterday – the snow is just adding to the inconvenience. If you make a mistake, you correct it and move on. Please remove the parking restrictions and return Nee Canaan to the friendly town we have always been.
Agree!
All I hear from friends and neighbors is how we dine in other towns to avoid the 2-hour paid parking nonsense. Our selectman are determined to convert downtown to less of a small town vibe. This is going to affect the quality of retailers New Canaan can attract.
Overall, I support the change to paid parking downtown as the town needs revenue to offset increasing expenses. However, the seemingly arbitrary 2-hour parking maximum appears to be the biggest sore spot impacting our retailers, citizens and visitors. Why not do what Greenwich has done and simply extend the parking window to 4 to 5 hours? Let’s give people a chance to enjoy all that the downtown has to offer without having to constantly check their watches. It’s an app. It should be simple and easy to change.
I agree that this paid parking plan is not working out well. Is anyone else having more difficulty parking at the library and cvs, I’m guessing maybe because it’s close, free parking? I imagine it will get much worse at the Library if main st goes metered.
A few weeks ago I needed to run into the library to pick up a book. I circled in the library lot two times unsuccessfully and saw 2 different cars that grabbed library parking spots, but saw they were not headed into the library. One was someone parking there to go on a run and another looked to be a multi-generational family headed into town. Is anyone monitoring these spots?
Wow, how can they say the meters in town are a positive??? I see so many empty spaces meaning folks are shopping and eating elsewhere! I feel very sorry for the Merchants.
I sure am eating and shopping elsewhere. I want our downtown merchants to thrive, but I just can’t put up with downtown these days. I’ve been in town long enough to remember how easy it used to be downtown back in 2010!
So the aim is to take something that’s terrible, that has confused, alienated, or angered nearly everyone in town, that was poorly communicated at rollout, that beloved longtime merchants are begging us to end, and spend a hundred grand to expand it?
Have we taken complete leave of our senses?
Agree! I just don’t get it!! All I can do is shake my head and try not to enrage myself.
Totally agree Laura. Well said. Thank you.
I agree with you! It’s illogical!
Please no more paid parking in town!! Clean the snow around town instead. It unsafe! The stores in town are finally full. Let’s keep it that way
Now that the Town is encouraging apartments in the upper floors of Retail A zone buildings, without former parking requirements, where will these new residents find overnight parking? This just adds to the need to consider parking alternatives that encourage use of our retail center.
It’s the one size fits all statewide mandate effective 7/1/26 that is causing that – with as of right conversions of any commercial to residential/mixed use up to 9 units and p and zs cannot deny any projects with inadequate parking or even no parking at all on projects of under 16 units aside from a defined 8% area towns can choose to exclude from this rule.
These 2 new laws enacted at the state level by the majority party just creates an unfunded mandate on municipalities to build municipal decked parking lots, which of course means residents’ property taxes subsidize it. Just a free handout to developers to force greater density development statewide without addressing affordability…
Once again, the entitled masses post on the paid parking without any mention of free parking in the area. One example is the Park Street lot which is free for 3 hours. That solves the complaints of the 2 hour max elsewhere. And the walk to Elm is not that long.
There are other free places, but I leave that for you to discover.
STOP CHANGING NEW CANAAN FOR THE WORSE!!!!!!!!
Hay Phil those entitled masses do vote in elections
wish we had one this year.
Right on Phil. All of the paid spots were spoken for at 1pm both days this weekend. The snow makes all parking more difficult but the free lots on either side of Elm have capacity as does the lot at the train station.
Nothing short of multiple, free, assigned spots for each store on Elm will satisfy the merchants. Paying a nominal fee for premium spots which shifts behavior toward using the more plentiful free lots is good policy. Allowing folks that refuse to use and app or walk more than 20 feet to their destination to dominate the narrative is bad policy.
I understand why you think this works, but as a town mom, with three small kids, it’s more challenging. The free spots, especially behind Sole, are outdated. They are way too tight for modern cars, especially family cars. SUVs are even beyond this convo. Even if I can get into one, I can’t unload kids from both sides. At the least they need to be re-lined to accommodate larger cars. Which would reduce the number of spots.
Also, for moms with babies/toddlers, Elm St spots are the safest. It’s not just the inconvenience of walking kids farther or down stairs. Needing to extend the time with kids by the road to pay at a station, which may be the opposite direction of our destination, is stressful and potentially dangerous.
Even alone, I do find myself not stopping in for a coffee or quick one item shop as often because it is an inconvenience to deal with the parking stations.
Why can’t our elected officials actually listen to the people that live here? Paid parking on Elm is a deterrent from wanting to go downtown. The kiosks don’t work half of the time. You get tickets even though you pay. I go to Wilton for coffee now.
Free spots or paid, there isnt enough parking even in low season. It’s become a game of circling over and over around town trying to find a spot. If try the upper free lot its trying get into spots that are way too narrow even for medium SUVs. It needs re-striping asap for real cars so not so much waste as often spaces not used as no one can fit. If going for dinner on Elm you often have to plan at least 10 -15 mins ahead to find parking. Baffled by all the spots taken away for the recent brick bump outs when there is so much need for a small town center. Endless Uber Eats, Door dash and commercial trucks double parked which leads to people doing the same to drop off near restaurants before the driver goes exploring for parking! Was not like this only a couple years ago which makes me think its largely because of losing all the spots on Elm.
I agree that the paid parking situation is frustrating and is discouraging people from enjoying all that New Canaan offers. I find myself choosing restaurants in neighboring towns to avoid the hassle of Elm Street. In addition, for those of us needing handicap spots , they are few and far between. The option to park elsewhere where free parking is offered is not an option for those with mobility challenges.
Going down to neighborhoods around Miami to visit my mom, I was used to paid parking on streets already. I was skeptical at first of the switch on Elm, but have found the app quick and easy to use to pay for parking and I seem to find spaces on Elm more often than I used to. Once you have uploaded the app and entered your car info Once the app works well, quick and easy, and no need to use a kiosk to pay. The lots in the back are being paved to address the tight parking spots issue in the free lots.
The reason more spots were originally lost on Elm was because of complaints filed by a resident against the town that took away parking spaces. The bump outs at crosswalks on elm were done as a way to recapture some of those lost spaces.
The issue with delivery drivers double parking in town remains an ongoing one, hopefully more of them will use the ramp in the lot behind Elm instead, but that needs to be encouraged and enforced somehow, if that is even possible.
Main Street is unusually wide… it is a state road, but why not make parking on the east side of the street diagonal as it is on Elm to create some additional parking spaces?