By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Three-hour parking limits were imposed for designated downtown parking lots and street spaces May 1 and, after a grace period, violators are now being ticketed by police. 

A month into the parking change, the lots already look different.

Many of the white-striped, three-hour spaces no longer are occupied steadily, while the all-day spaces with orange stripes are completely full by about 9 a.m. most mornings, merchants and others report. 

No longer are vehicles routinely seen circling the lots looking for places to park — at least not short-term parkers.

“That was the idea — to get the employees who were parking all day” out of the short-term lots to leave more room for short-turnover use by shoppers and diners, said Tom Kiely, operations director for the First Selectwoman’s Office. All the fines collected for violations of the parking limits go into the town’s general fund, he said. 

The three-hour limit is in effect from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily for roughly 550 downtown parking spaces designated by recently installed signs.

There is no charge for parking three hours or less in the designated spaces. Those who park longer than three hours will be issued a $25 ticket and a $50 ticket for parking longer that six hours.

But not everyone agrees the reintroduction of parking limits — suspended in 2020 during the COVID pandemic — is the solution to Westport’s long-term parking problems downtown, particularly because anyone can park and stay in the all-day spaces. Those spaces — there is no charge — fill up quickly every morning.

“I think about the people who have the 12 o’clock shift or 6 o’clock shift,” said Melody Urbina, manager of the Unsubscribed clothing store at 33 Elm St. 

Every day, she has at least one employee who cannot find an all-day space near the store and has to move their car every three hours, she said. That can also be a problem for managers or others who need to go on errands during the day. Once they leave an all-day spot, they usually have to park in limited-time spaces when they return, she said.

“We’re here eight hours,” she said of downtown workers. “Once they’re here, the early people are not leaving the all-day spaces,” she said.

Urbina favors setting up a parking permit plan for employees. “I think that’s a great idea, to give the manager of every establishment a certain number of parking passes for employees,” with a system to renew the passes periodically so they don’t get passed around or misused over time, she said.

One of the Representative Town Meeting members representing downtown District 9, Sal Liccione, agrees.

“I’ve been a longtime supporter of a permit system for employees,” he said. “I’m hearing complaints from merchants that the all-day spots are taken, and there’s no way to tell who’s using them.”

Another RTM member from District 9, Jennifer Johnson, said there is only one solution to end Westport’s parking crisis — building a parking structure.

“I’m definitely in favor of structured parking — I have been since 2011,” she said. 

Johnson cited speaker Jeff Speck, a nationally known advocate for well-designed, more “walkable” communities, who spoke recently at an event sponsored by Sustainable Westport. Among his suggestions was the addition of some sort of downtown parking structure, which would not have to “dominate” the landscape.

Not only would a parking structure ease the parking shortage, it is a plus for the environment, cutting down on auto emissions as fewer cars travel around crowded lots looking for parking spaces, Johnson said. 

Barry Brennan, general manager of Mexicue restaurant, 38 Main St., said having parking permits for business employees is a good idea, but not the complete solution. He, like Johnson, believes that a parking structure should be built.

“I think it would be the best thing in the world,” he said. “They didn’t listen to their constituents,” he said of the newest parking plan crafted for the town by the Downtown Plan and Implementation Committee.

That plan was the topic of heated debate over the last year, with several revisions brought forward until a split Planning and Zoning Commission narrowly approved a positive 8-24 report for the project in April. But since then, the Representative Town Meeting tanked the option of making up for spaces lost in a redesigned Parker Harding Plaza by carving out more spots on Jesup Green. Officials, as a result, will have to search elsewhere to design more downtown parking.

For now, the free three-hour rule for downtown parking lots and streets stands, and is a good deal for downtown shoppers and businesses, according to police Lt. Eric Woods.

“We focus on the fact that parking is free in Westport. There are not many places you can park free for three hours,” he said.

Police officers on foot are checking compliance with the parking limits by scanning license plates. After three hours, the technology lets an officer know if a vehicle has been in a space more than the time limit and, if it’s in violation, the officer writes a ticket. 

Additional scanning devices mounted on police vehicles will make the job easier, but have not been delivered yet, Woods said.

“We’ve been giving tickets and trying to give warnings,” he added. “We’ve been working with the public to try to inform them that the grace period is over now and we’re enforcing it.”

For a map of parking lots in downtown Westport with information about the types and number of spaces in each, visit the Discover Westport website.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.