Westfield parking policies promulgated
By CARL E. HARTDEGEN
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – The city’s Off Street Parking Commission has taken action to reorganize policies and regulate parking in the several parking lots available for use downtown.
Enforcement of parking regulations had lapsed when the former parking enforcement officer retired but a new officer, Jerry Crawford, has been hired and will begin enforcing the regulations in the lots at the beginning of the new year.
The chairman of the commission, Peter J. Miller Jr., said “We do need to begin enforcing parking regulations again” and explained that, at a recent meeting of the commission, policies were adopted which will control parking in the downtown lots.
The commission controls several lots, including the Thomas Street lot located off Thomas Street and behind Elm Street businesses; the Franklin Street lot located behind structures on Franklin and Summer street; two Arnold Street lots located between Arnold Street and Church Street; three Reader (named after a former owner of the property named Reader) lots located off Church Street; and a restaurant parking lot on Main Street.
Free parking is allowed for three hours in all the lots except for the two smaller Reader lots, where parking is limited to two hours.
Additional parking is available for purchase from a machine in the Franklin Street lot, at a rate of fifty cents per hour.
The new policies adopted by the commission provide for the sale of daytime parking stickers, valid for all the lots except the two small Reader lots and the restaurant lot on Main Street, at a cost of $10 per month or $100 per year, which will permit parking from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. between Mondays and Fridays.
Night parking stickers will be available, free of charge, to core downtown residents.
“We brought back night stickers for people who live in the immediate downtown area,” which will be available for residents who live on specific streets in the downtown area, Miller said.
The challenge, he said, will be parking during snow emergencies.
“It’s a very big challenge” Miller said. “When we close any of the lots, we’re going to have more stickers than we have spaces.”
The plan, which he said is open to adjustment, is to close the Franklin and Thomas street lots from midnight to 7 a.m. and allow overnight parking in the Arnold Street and Reader lots, to allow for the clearing of snow in the other lots. Vehicles parked in those lots will have to be moved by 10 a.m., after the other lots are cleared, to allow for snow removal from the overnight lots.
The Reader lots will not be closed during snow events, Miller said, and said that the parking authorities will rely on the cooperation of motorists to ensure they are cleared of snow.
The mayor has been asked, Miller said, to solicit bids for parking during snow emergencies in privately owned lots.
“We’re trying our best to keep the lots open during the busiest times for each of them” he said, explaining that the Arnold Street lots is the most used lot for overnight parking, while the Thomas and Franklin streets lots are busiest during the day.
“We wanted to be sure those were open during the business hours” he said but also said “we’re going to need people’s cooperation in all the lots.”
“We expect that we’ll likely have some issues” as the policies start to be enforced, Miller said, but he stressed that the commission will be open to making changes as needed, when issues become apparent.
