By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
NEWPORT, N.H. — The Newport Board of Selectmen didn’t take any action, but they had an open discussion involving Police Chief Alex Lee and members of the public about the ongoing issue of how to handle Main Street parking at their meeting on Tuesday.
Town Manager Kyle Harris said that in the case of parking regulations, they have received mixed feedback about the current situation. It is technically unlawful for any car to be parked longer than two hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., excluding Sundays and major holidays.
“I have received some complaints from members of the public regarding parking enforcement out there,” Harris said. “I have spoken with the chief and we’ve done some increased enforcement, that has resulted in additional complaints.”
The town conducted a survey asking business owners on Main Street questions, and the results were “extremely mixed,” Harris said. The first question was, “Do you think there is adequate parking on Main Street?” Which got a reaction of 64% agreed or strongly agreed.
The second question asked if the two-hour parking ordinance should be continued with parking regulations enforced, and 54% agreed or strongly agreed. The third question asked if they would like to see a combination of two-hour parking and all-day parking on Main Street, and again, 54% agreed or strongly agreed.
Only 14% of those surveyed said they would like to see all Main Street parking regulations eliminated.
“Really it’s one of those situations where nobody wins,” Harris said. “If there are people who want to park for more than two hours, they’re going to be risking getting a ticket. Businesses want to increase the turnover. My recommendation is to not change the ordinance at all and maintain the two-hour parking.”
Harris also said that a possibility to consider would be to eliminate Saturdays and make it Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for two-hour parking.
Lee spoke to the board earlier in the meeting about proposed changes to town ordinance fines, and said there are two purposes. The first is “general deterrence,” which sends a message to the community that committing violations wouldn’t be in their best interest. The second is “specific deterrence,” when someone is issued a fine for a violation that is painful enough that they will be unlikely to do it again.
Unlike speeding, the parking limit’s whole purpose is to support Main Street business and commerce, Lee told the board. It prevents tenants and employees from monopolizing spaces Lee attended a meeting at the Main Street Advisory Committee and received mixed responses on the matter.
Lee said that if the town does decide to maintain a two-hour parking limit, for purposes of enforcement he will request a public hearing for language clarification. He explained that there was a scenario where he wrote a ticket for a person who had parked his car in one space and then moved it to different spots every two hours. Lee said that his interpretation of the language in the ordinance was that you can’t park there for more than two hours a day cumulatively. He admits, however, that this is not clear.
Lee said that if he is going to enforce the ordinance, the people should know what is and is not OK. He said it will also help to have clear language if there was the situation where someone fought it in court.
“I want this to be clear on what is allowed,” he said.
Burroughs had ideas of having a “center aisle” of parking to give employees and vendors a place to park. Board member Jeff North, who is a property owner and landlord in the area, said that he understands employees don’t want to walk, but the center island parking is just as important to commerce as the outside spaces.
He said that as a Main Street business owner, he feels it is his responsibility to make sure it is clear to his tenants and employees that they can’t parking on Main Street. For rent, he said he charges tenants $1,200 per month if they park on Main Street, but if they don’t it drops to $800 per month.
North said it is complicated because they need businesses to thrive, and all it takes is a few times of not having spaces to really affect business activity. North said that all day parking would be a “grave mistake,” and would take matters out of his hands as far as parking concerns.
Board member Bert Spaulding said that he hopes the chief is paying attention to the habitual people who abuse the parking ordinance continually. He said this sets a bad example for the occasional person, and he knows of at least one person on Main Street who is parked there every day.
Burroughs said that his ample experience in both law enforcement as the town’s chief, and being on the selectboard, have shown him that this is an ongoing conversation where a solution has never been achieved. He said that there is “no one magic solution that will solve this issue.”
“Historically speaking it is the same song and different verse,” said Chair Jim Burroughs. “We’ve gone through this in my 30 years over and over again. Every couple years it comes up as an issue. Every couple years we go out and enforce. Every couple years we get a lot of feedback about enforcement. If this is the team that can figure it out, I’m all ears.”
