The downtown workers still parking on Main and Elm Streets—even after special permits were made available for purchase to get them off—likely never will change their habits, the head of New Canaan’s Parking Bureau said at a recent meeting.
According to Stacy Miltenberg, the 40 employees of businesses in the heart of New Canaan’s business district who purchased permits that allow them to park at either the Park Street or Morse Court lots are delighted with them are “so happy with them and they’re utilizing them.”
Yet others “are never going to take a permit, no matter what we do,” she told members of the Parking Commission at their Sept. 14 meeting, held in Town Hall.
“I saw this with one of the people at the shops. I can’t tell you how many times I told her there were permits available and she just continued to get tickets and tickets, and then she comes in frustrated because she keeps getting tickets. She finally bought a permit, but I don’t think she’s using it.”
Made available in May as a way to clear the free parking spaces on Main and Elm for shoppers and diners instead of workers, the $429 permits sold out and there are currently four people on the waiting list for the Morse Court lot and one person for Park Street, according to Miltenberg. Based on a suggestion from the Parking Commission, town officials recently voted to extend the time for spaces in the heart of the downtown from 90 minutes to two hours.
When Miltenberg told the commission that having employees park in the Morse Court and Park Street lots didn’t seem to cause any overflow issues, Chairman Keith Richey suggested issuing “a few more” to those on the waitlists and to anyone else that requested them.
“If someone comes in asking if there’s any permits left, I’m happy to entertain the idea—I think we all would be—to give more permits if the lots aren’t getting filled as a result of these permits,” he said.
The other commission members and Miltenberg both agreed, however, that it’s currently “the slow season” for downtown parking and that it would be better to wait to and see how the lots continue to operate with the current permitholders through the rest of the year.
“Maybe it would be a good idea for us to go through our busy time and go through this [for] one year to see what we have,” Miltenberg said. “And once we feel like we made it through the busy time, Christmas, the holidays, and even right before the summer comes [again], then we increase it.”