Parking Commission Voids $30 Ticket Issued for Loading Zone Violation on Elm Street 

Members of the Parking Commission at their most recent meeting voided a $30 ticket issued to a local business owner who had parked in a loading zone on Elm Street. Pam Alberino of New Canaan Ski & Sport told the Commission during an appeal hearing last month that she was using the loading zone properly at the time she received the ticket—a characterization that is at odds with the head of the Parking Bureau. “I was unloading my truck and putting stuff into my truck because there is no places for me to load and my back parking lot was also filled,” Alberino said during gate Feb. 7 hearing, held via videoconference. “So I had to walk and unload it and when I came back out to put some stuff in the car, I had a ticket and it was like 9:59 or 9:58.

Parking Officials Vote 4-0 To Recommend Keeping Permit Fees Flat

Parking officials last week voted unanimously to recommend holding fees for both commuter and commercial lots flat for next fiscal year. If approved by the selectmen, the Parking Commission’s recommendations would see permit rates for the Lumberyard, Richmond Hill, Talmadge Hill, Park Street, Morse Court and Telephone Lots remain as follows:

 

Commission Chair Keith Richey and members Peter Ogilvie, Laura Budd and Jennifer Donovan voted 4-0 in favor of the recommendations. The Commission has one open seat. Regarding fees at the commuter lots, Richey said the town should “leave it alone in view of the recovery from the COVID crisis.”

As it is, the town has already extended the parking permits for those lots—Lumberyard, Richmond Hill and Talmadge Hill—through March 31 and also suspended metered parking in those lots through month’s end. (The selectmen are expected to take up the question of whether to continue those extensions through June 30.)

The Commission voted separately to recommend holding the fees for the “commercial” lots flat.