Government

Town Upholds $30 Ticket Issued to Elm Street Worker

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Town officials last week upheld a $30 ticket issued to a local retail shop worker who overstayed in a Main Street parking space. The Parking Commission voted 4-0 to uphold the ticket that had been issued to Vanessa Brown. During an appeal hearing at the appointed body’s regular meeting, Brown said that she parked on Main Street after dropping off her child and intended on moving the car but got there just 15 minutes too late. 

Brown told the Commission that it was raining out on the Monday morning in question and that overstaying in the space “was not intentional.”

“I had to run into work to open the store and then I was going to move my car at the appropriate time and then got stuck with a customer,” Brown said at the Dec. 1 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. During the appeal hearing, commissioners asked whether Brown was working at the time the ticket was issued (yes), how far away from Main Street she works (at The Linen Shop on Elm Street, so not far), whether she always parks on the street (not always), whether she knows about the free parking permits in the Center and Locust Lots that are available for downtown workers (yes but it’s hard to get one from the business owner and a bit of a hike to the store), 

Commissioner Katie O’Neill said, “On behalf of merchants I will only add that taking customers’ parking is frowned upon.” 

Brown responded that she understood, though some Main Street merchants park on the street “all day without getting a ticket.”

O’Neill said, “They should not be tolerating it from each other, especially implementing our new parking initiatives….

Government

Town: Mostly Positive Feedback on Change to Paid Parking on Elm

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Town officials say last month’s switchover to paid parking on Elm Street downtown has gone as smoothly as could be expected, with several compliments on the change as well as some frustrations and complaints. The Parking Bureau at Town Hall is getting “a lot of positive feedback with people coming into the office or calling saying that this was a good program, a good initiative that we started,” according to Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg. “We are seeing space availability, we are seeing movement on Elm Street, and turnover,” she said during the Nov. 5 regular meeting of the Parking Commission, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “So the initiative is accomplishing what the goal was.

Government

Town Upholds $30 Ticket Issued for Parking on the Grass

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Town officials last week upheld a $30 ticket issued to a New Canaan woman who parked on the grass near Mill Pond. During an appeal hearing before the Parking Commission at its Sept. 3 meeting, Millport Avenue resident Daphney Legrand said she’s lived in town for 10 years and has parked her car in the grassy area in the past. “Second of all, I still see people parking there and they don’t have a ticket,” Legrand said during the Commission’s regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. Legrand added that there’s no signage specifically prohibiting a motorist from parking on the grass.

Business

‘It’s Going To Hurt Merchants’: Parking Commission Pushes Back on Elimination of 15-Minute Spots on Elm Street

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Members of the appointed body that oversees New Canaan’s parking department this month pushed back on part of a larger plan that will see the one-way stretch of Elm Street converted to paid spots. Specifically, members of the Parking Commission during their May 7 meeting objected to plans to eliminate—rather than increase—the number of free 15-minute parking spaces on Elm Street while the town converts those free spots to paid. “If we are not interested in revenue, what is the argument against short-term parking?” Commissioner Katie O’Neill said during the regular meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “Because as I see it, we are adding a surcharge on coffee shops, on sandwich shops. All the sudden now if you are picking up a $15 sandwich it’s going to be $15.50 or whatever.

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Town Upholds $50 Ticket Issued To Woman Who Parked on Sidewalk

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Town officials on Wednesday night upheld a $50 ticket issued to a Ridgefield woman for parking on a sidewalk alongside the Locust Avenue Lot. 

Allison Butash told members of the Parking Commission during an appeal hearing that she didn’t know she’d hopped the granite curb and parked on the brick sidewalk near the Post Office. “I apparently went over the curb and it’s a very small curb so I didn’t even know I had gone over it, and apparently in doing so the back of my car was mostly on the sidewalk,” Butash said during the hearing, held via videoconference. “But I was more concerned with the front part of my car, because I didn’t want it to block the turn-in to the parking lot and the fire hydrant that was there. So I completely had no idea I was on the curb when I left my car. I didn’t turn around, I didn’t look.