Government

Commission Discusses Proposed Striping, Disabled Space on Morse Court

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. Members of the appointed body that oversees municipal parking lots in New Canaan are asking town officials to carefully balance the number of disabled spaces needed downtown with sorely needed 15-minute spaces. Parking Manager Stacey Miltenberg told members of the Parking Commission during their July 10 meeting that disabled spots would be delineated along with the 15-minute parking spaces along the northern edge of Morse Court, as part of a new striping plan for the lot. (Currently, the parallel-parking 15-minute spaces are not lined out.)

Commissioner Nancy Bemis noted that the block of parking may be more useful if left unpainted — for example, because smaller cars wouldn’t take up a full space — and also raised a question about a plan to add a disabled space to the row. “My concern is that by adding the handicapped spot, is it going to lead to any confusion?” Bemis said at the meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference.

Drew Magratten

Town Forgives $150 Ticket Issued to Woman Who Parked in Disabled Space at Starbucks

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Saying that the disabled space in the Starbucks lot is misplaced and poorly marked, officials this month voided a $150 ticket issued to a woman who’d parked there. The Parking Commission during its Jan. 3 meeting voted 4-0 to void the ticket that Ashley Gonzalez received on Nov. 6 (a Monday). Gonzalez told members of the appointed body that she pulled into the lot in a panic because her mother fainted in the passenger seat.

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Town Upholds $150 Ticket Issued to Woman Who Parked in Disabled Space [UPDATE]

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Town officials this month upheld a $150 ticket issued to a Bedford, N.Y. woman who parked in a disabled space while running into a store downtown. During her Aug. 2 appeal hearing before the Parking Commission, [the woman] said she’d circled for about 25 minutes before finally pulling into a disabled space on Elm Street in order to return an item to the WAVE store on behalf of her daughter. “The only spot that was there was right in front of the store and it was a handicapped parking spot,” [the woman] said during the hearing, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “I pulled in, turned my hazards on, left my car on and told my daughter to wait for me as I ran in.

Government

Parking Commission Voids $30 Ticket Issued to Local Man

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Town officials this month voided a $30 ticket issued to a local man who recently switched back to commuting out of the New Canaan station after riding trains out of Noroton Heights for more than 10 years. In his written appeal letter to the Parking Commission, Ben Merrill noted that he’s “still getting used to the Pay-for-Parking program” in New Canaan. “In particular, two items are different,” Merrill said in the letter, discussed by the Commission at its March 1 meeting, held at Town Hall and via videoconference. “1. The Noroton Heights app has my license plate stored and the ticket checker just looks at that, there is no space number required, 2.

Government

Parking Commission Voids $25 Ticket Issued to Elm Street Motorist

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Saying it had been a long time since parking enforcement officers issued their last verbal warning to her, town officials last week voided a $25 ticket issued to a woman who overstayed her time on Elm Street. 

Under New Canaan’s parking regulations, motorists approaching what is now a 2-hour time limit for the free spaces downtown cannot simply move their vehicle to a different area of the same street to reset that timer. If someone is not aware of the rule, “we try to educate them, usually the first ticket around, because it is not posted anywhere other than in the town ordinance,” according to Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg. Yet in the case of Lara Tiramani of Bridgeport, she was made aware of that when she similarly overstayed a space in 2016, Miltenberg said during the Dec. 8 regular meeting of the Parking Commissioner. Tucker Murphy, administrative officer for the town and a guest at the meeting, said the purpose of the rule is to ensure the free spaces serve those who wish to patronize downtown business and restaurants rather than those who work in those places.