Around Town

Officials: New Canaan Drivers Ignore Designated Loading Zones Downtown

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New Canaan motorists routinely park in designated loading zones downtown, forcing delivery trucks to double-park and exacerbating traffic problems, officials say. There are “always passenger cars,” for example, in the designated loading zone on South Avenue just off of Elm Street, town resident Jeff Holland said during Thursday night’s meeting of the volunteer group that oversees off-street parking in New Canaan. “If I was a guy driving a truck into town, I would be a little bit frustrated,” Holland said during the Parking Commission meeting, held in the Douglas Room at Lapham Community Center. “If I was doing deliveries during the week, I would say, ‘Yeah, I am going to double-park,’ ” he added. And that double-parking creates sightline and safety risks for pedestrians—a problem that town officials tried to address earlier this summer by designating two additional loading zones downtown, doubling the total.

Around Town

Caught by License Plate Reader, Parking Violator Faces Uncertain Future

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Using a newly issued license plate reader, Parking Bureau workers caught on to a New Canaan man who for about three months had been displaying a friend’s permit to park in the Lumbeyard Lot—skirting the rules to use the most coveted commuter lot in town. Now, parking officials are trying to decide what to do as that man apologizes and requests that the town renew the permit he previously had held for the Richmond Hill lot (all of two blocks further away from the train station). The waiting list for the Lumberyard Lot is about seven years, the Richmond Hill lot three. At their regular meeting Thursday, members of the Parking Commission weighed just what to do with the violator and decided ultimately that more research of the Town Charter is needed to clarify the group’s power in these situations. “We feel that we need to do something to deter this from happening in the future,” Commissioner Pamela Crum said at the meeting, held in the Art Room at Lapham Community Center.

Government

Increased Fines for New Canaan Parking Violators Proposed

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Saying New Canaan demands far less from parking violators than nearby towns, the volunteer group that oversees off-street parking here is recommending a new slate of increased fines. In all, the Parking Commission is seeking to raise amounts on 15 of 23 violations that range from parking on a curb—or more than one foot from it—to obstructing fire hydrants and crosswalks. A look at what the commission is proposing —current fines and proposed—can be found at the end of this article. Not every commissioner agreed with every decision. When Peter Ogilvie suggested raising the three $20 fines—no parking zone, loading zone and obstructing two spaces—to $30, this exchange took place between Chairman Keith Richey and Secretary Rick Franco:
Franco: Someone has to second Peter.

Government

‘Perfect Storm’ Brewing at Locust Avenue Parking Lot

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Problems of overuse at what long had been New Canaan’s least busy parking lot are expected very soon to worsen, and town officials are trying to figure out how to get out ahead of what some are calling “a perfect storm.”

The past six weeks has seen a dramatic rise in the number of motorists parking in the Locust Avenue lot. In addition to longtime regulars—including people who work on that side of town—“new” users include some personnel and construction workers at the Fire Department (where interior and exterior capital projects are underway), construction workers at the Town Hall renovation site and in-town shoppers, diners and post office visitors who, under normal circumstances, would park behind Town Hall itself or in one of the lots that rise behind it (toward Park Street). Starting in August, demolition and construction work is expected to start just down the hill on Forest Street, where a 3-story residential-and-retail complex is going up. “There is a perfect storm that is exploding over there,” Parking Bureau Superintendent Karen Miller said at the group’s May 1 meeting. “And I won’t lie to you: It’s very bad.