Dear neighbors:
After a lot of misinformation and assumptions (your author is guilty as well!), I did some digging into the parking meter situation. With the help of Milton Police Chief Richard Wells, I was able to get some clarificaiton.
Q: Where did the idea of proposed parking meters come from?
A: The parking stations were a recommendation from the East Milton Square Parking and Access Design Project.
Q: Would the affected areas have parking meters? Or parking stations?
A: The town would use parking stations, where you can pay by credit card, cash, etc. This is more flexible for those parking as it wouldn’t require the use of quarters.
Q: Where would the parking stations be located?
A: They would be located in town lots. The Town has three lots in East Milton: two on Granite Ave. and one on Bassett St.(Designated as Municipal lots A and B). The New lot (37 spaces) on the deck is going to be lot C. There would be no parking stations located on any streets.
There would be no parking stations located on any streets.
Q: Is this a done deal? Will this definitely be happening?
A: No. Says Chief Wells: “We are just into the preliminary discussions on this. I know people don’t like regulations so it’s easy to understand the negative feedback. It may not even be feasible, but we are doing a pretty thorough look at this.”
Q: What are the possible parking scenarios?
A: One possible scenario is that all the Town lot spaces have two hour pay station parking. The town would then limit Granite Ave. and Adams St. to one hour and 30 minute free parking. That would turn those free parking spaces over more quickly while allowing longer parking for people to use the paid lots. The pay stations would be free for the first 15 minutes and then something like $.50 or $.75 for an hour. The two hour lots, if regulated by pay station, would also have a one or two hour renewal so in situations where folks needed to park for longer than two hours, they could.
Q: How would this affect surrounding neighborhoods?
A: Chief Wells’ opinion: “This would also allow us to restrict the side street parking which would make people park in the square and the many spaces in the lots. Personally, I would only recommend this if I think it would help the situation both for the businesses and for the neighbors whose streets abut the business district.”
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