The City Council Legal Affairs Committee addressed residents’ concerns of the recent downtown parking ordinance and discussed amendments to the ordinance.
City Councillor and Committee Chair Thomas Rossignoll said the reason for the meeting is to address memos sent in regarding inquiries and concerns of the recent downtown parking ordinance.
“The painstaking effort it takes to undertake a monumental task of implementing a whole brand new parking system is daunting and that took a couple of years to get to where we are today,” Rossignoll said.
Tim Brown from Northeast Arc, which is located in downtown Peabody, said he has no complaints with the newly installed parking meters, but wishes they were more enforced.
“The theory is good, but until you finish putting it into action, it will not really come to fruition. We won’t see the benefits of it,” he said.
Brown said his biggest concern is the new parking regulations during a snow ban per the new ordinance.
The new parking ordinance allows for residents to use parking lots downtown during a snow ban which are usually reserved for businesses, he said.
Brown said this limits businesses’ ability to host customers and hurts their business from Jan. to March.
Sarah Narcus, the owner of Olio located at 43 Main Street, said the biggest change of downtown parking which has affected her business is the change of the length of time vehicles are allowed to park.
The meters changed from allowing parking for one hour to now two hours, she said.
Narcus said her issue with this is finding a place for her “rotating staff of employees” to park.
She addressed the committee’s idea for an annual business sticker, which would be beneficial to employees who work five days a week downtown.
Employees who work at service-based businesses, often wait staff or similar positions, and work 10 to 12 hour shifts, but don’t work everyday, are having trouble figuring out where to park, Narcus said.
Councillor Peter McGinn said he is happy the committee has reached the point of addressing these issues.
The software used by the newly installed parking meters gather data and information and “help us paint a picture (and) tell us a story” rather than relying on “anecdotal” evidence to help guide the changes, he said.
Councillor Julie Daigle said these changes are a “starting point” and she is happy to support them.
“This has been a long time coming and it’s not perfect. It’s never going to be perfect. We’re trying to please the businesses, the customers, the residents,” she said. “If it’s not perfect, we’ll tweak it.”
Councillor Stephanie Peach said she hopes to keep the concerns addressing the snow parking regulations in mind for any future changes, but she will support the current changes.
Councillor Michael Higgins motioned to draft and advertise changes to Chapter 19, which include addressing long-term parking, overnight parking, the residential permit program, and employee parking in municipal parking lots.
The motion carried by a vote of 5-0 in the Legal Affairs Committee.
At the regular City Council meeting, the motion passed unanimously 11-0.
