Around Town

Town Upholds $25 Ticket Issued To Woman Who Got Her Hair Done

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Town officials last week upheld a parking ticket issued to a Norwalk woman who’d overstayed in a two-hour spot on Main Street this summer. The Parking Commission voted 5-0 to uphold the $25 ticket issued to Cornelia Henning. In making her appeal to the Commission during its regular meeting Thursday night, Henning conceded that she was “definitely guilty” of exceeding two hours, yet also said she was “shocked when I came back out, because I thought my hair appointment was going to be under two hours.”

“But you never know,” Henning said during her appeal hearing, held via videoconference. “For those of us who have blonde hair, sometimes it takes longer. It definitely took longer.

COVID-19 New Canaan

First Selectman: Parking Enforcement Suspended, Decision To Come on Starting It Up Again

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New Canaan is not enforcing parking regulations and will decide whether and how to do so as the business district reopens, the town’s highest elected official said last week. Parking Bureau enforcement officers are not out in the streets ticketing motorists “nor are police writing tickets,” according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. He told members of the Parking Commission at their most recent meeting that they should make a recommendation on what will happen after May 20, when some types of businesses—including restaurants with outdoor seating—can reopen or begin to operate in a more accustomed way. “Are we going to charge parking meter fees?” Moynihan said at the May 7 meeting, held via videoconference. “There is a sense that we shouldn’t.

COVID-19 New Canaan

‘We Have Screwed Up’: Town Waives Feb. 10 Ticket for Parking in Disabled Space

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Members of the town body that hears parking ticket appeals last week voiced concerns after its chair said a violation for parking in a disabled space had been waived without the group’s input. Parking Commission Chair Keith Richey said four appeals had come in recently from ticketed motorists and that he’d discussed them with the first selectman and head of the Parking Bureau “and the conclusion was we had to waive these because this meeting wouldn’t qualify as necessary due process” for an appeal. “Maybe we will come to a different conclusion going forward, but I don’t feel too bad about having to waive four tickets,” Richey said during the Commission’s special meeting, held May 7 via videoconference. “And I’ll bet even the one with the parking in the handicapped spot, there was probably the whole street was empty so there was plenty of places for handicapped to park. That’s my guess.”

Yet under the Town Charter, the Commission is the municipal body that fields parking ticket appeals, Secretary Pam Crum said, and under an Executive Order from the governor during this public health emergency, the group can meet remotely and postpone those appeals.

Chris Hering

Commission Votes 4-1 To Recommend Holding Parking Permit Fees Flat

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Noting that a new sales tax from the state will drive the rates up substantially, municipal officials voted last week to recommend keeping the town’s parking permit fees flat next fiscal year. The Parking Commission voted 4-1 to leave the fees for permits at eight municipal lots flat, though motorists should expect to see a 6.35% sales tax broken out on their annual bills. The state tax “is a sizable increase, much bigger than any increase we have done in my entire term on the Parking Commission,” Chair Keith Richey said at the March 4 meeting, held at Town Hall. “And obviously this huge increase that would go along even if we didn’t increase the rates but just passed along the sales tax,” he added. “That will not add to our permit revenue.

Chris Hering

Parking Commission Votes 4-1 To Recommend Widening Spaces in Morse Court, Playhouse Lots

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The Parking Commission voted last week to recommend re-striping in two municipal parking lots so that the width of stalls is in line with New Canaan’s own zoning regulations. 

The appointed body’s 4-1 vote recommends widening spaces at Morse Court and one area of the Playhouse Lot to nine feet. Commission Secretary Pam Crum said the parking spaces in the middle area of the Playhouse Lot currently are just 7.5 feet wide. “I have been stuck three times in there where I have been wedged between two vehicles,” she said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “I’ve had to wait until cars showed up. One time I climbed from the passenger said—barely snuck in the passenger side, and crawled over the center console to the driver’s side.”

In addition to Crum, those voting in favor of the recommendation included Chair Keith Richey and Commissioners Peter Ogilvie and Chris Hering. 

The change likely would result in the loss of about eight parking spaces, commissioners said.