By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Controversy over downtown parking rumbles on.
The longtime issue sparked debate Wednesday as the Board of Selectwomen considered re-establishing two-hour parking limits for downtown streets and parking lots, which had been lifted during the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020.
But after merchants, town officials and residents offered a range of opinions on the proposal, with many campaigning for three-hour limits or parking paid via apps, the decision was postponed until Aug. 16 because of legal issues.
The issue follows a decision last month by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker to “pause” a plan to redesign the Parker Harding Plaza parking lot, which generated stiff opposition over features that included eliminating more than 40 parking spaces.
Tooker said Wednesday she had been expecting the board to simply approve reinstatement of two-hour parking limits downtown, rescinding the temporary measure that was designed to help businesses struggling during the height of the pandemic.
Suspension of the parking time limits, approved by the board June 10, 2020, was supposed to last only until Aug. 31, 2020, according to minutes of that meeting. It does not appear the board took any action in the meantime to officially continue the suspension beyond that date, although, in practice, it has remained in effect.
Tooker said that she could have made that change administratively without public input, but chose instead to put it on the selectwomen’s agenda because she wanted feedback at a public meeting.
“We’re taking action because we know it’s not working. Parking spaces are not turning over,” the first selectwoman said.
Reinstating the two-hour limit now is the beginning of a process to gather feedback and help formulate long-range solutions to downtown parking problems, Tooker said.
“So it’s an experiment?” asked Selectwoman Candice Savin, who also questioned the reasons for reinstating the former two-hour parking limit without studying other options first.
“Downtown is very different from before the pandemic. Has there been an evaluation … input from the merchants downtown on what would be helpful to maintain the vibrancy of the downtown?” Savin asked.
Randy Herbertson, chairman of the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee, told the selectwomen he believes that the real problem is that employees of downtown businesses need places to park outside the central business district to avoid competing with customers for parking spots.
“The core issue is balancing shopper parking and employee parking,” he said.
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, the Parker Harding parking lot behind Main Street was completely full, according to Herbertson, indicating that many workers at nearby stores and restaurants already had parked there, limiting spots available for shoppers. As a future solution, he favors paid parking for the public and a different location for employee parking.
In the meantime, Herbertson said, a three-hour parking limit should be adopted immediately to help alleviate the current parking crunch.
Patrick Jean, the managing partner of Nômade restaurant on Main Street, thought the town should invest in an electronic parking system — using kiosks and technology using apps as is used in many area towns, instead of parking meters. “You pay with your phone,” he said.
Jimmy Izzo, a Representative Town Meeting member from District 3, said that for now the selectwomen should approve a three-hour limit instead of two hours, adding that he “is all for parking meters.”
Roger Leifer, a member of the Westport Downtown Association board of directors and property owner, agreed that paid parking — whether with meters or electronic devices — would help. But the longtime town resident said the problem is bigger than setting time limits or fees.
“We’ve been discussing this problem for 35 years,” Leifer said. “No matter what system you use, there’s not enough parking.”
The only person who spoke in opposition to any form of paid parking was Matthew Mandell, the executive director of the Westport-Weston Chamber of Commerce.
Setting time limits is one way to help solve the problem, he said, but paid parking would keep people from shopping or dining locally. The answer is to find a better place for employees to park than in the central business district, Mandell said.
“The Chamber of Commerce does not like the idea of paid parking,” Mandell said. “Something has to be done. Employee parking is sucking up all the parking.”
Police Chief Foti Koskinas, who said he had not come to the Board of Selectwomen’s meeting to discuss parking, commented that it’s important to have “institutional knowledge” about the area’s longtime parking issues.
“Downtown Westport has had its ups and downs,” the chief said. “The administration is looking at this only for the benefit of the merchants.”
Koskinas said that metered or timed parking is a necessity, noting that it has been instituted in most neighboring communities. “What we have here is employees taking prime spaces,” the chief added.
The reason time limits on parking were lifted during the pandemic, he said, was because some stores had closed and others’ trade was suffering. “The purpose was for people to come to town and just walk around. It’s totally different now,” he said.
After a long discussion, Tooker was prepared to amend the resolution, calling for re-establishing parking limits at three hours instead of the initially proposed two hours.
But the decision was postponed to the next board meeting on Aug. 16 after Assistant Town Attorney Eileen Lavigne Flug asked for more time to study the legal ramifications of changing the parking restrictions.
Since the first selectwoman functions as the Local Traffic Authority, the Town Attorney’s Office will research the issue in state statutes as well as the town charter to determine if the resolution has to be reposted or changed, Flug said.
The selectwoman voted unanimously to postpone the vote until their next meeting.
Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.
It seems that parking issues never change. The funny thing is that how people shop has changed. E-commerce rewrote the rules on how people make purchasing decisions. It would be a shame for the outdated thinking that was modeled on an idea that turnover would increase customers would dictate how to address parking supply in downtown Westport. Today, the competition is the screen. Westport has developed a niche in restaurants, services, and merchants that offer quality goods and bespoke service. Forcing an old industrial model of manufactured churn is incompatible with creating an experience where people can explore at leisure the shops and restaurants of the downtown. The old ways of economic development thinking just don’t work anymore.
Jackie Lightfield
Ex-member WestCOG Community Economic District Strategy Steering Committee
As a 20 year westport resident I agree with Jackie that business has dramatically changed and how people shop.
We all acknowledge that parking downtown is a huge challenge as well as traffic.
It has also become very clear that our administration has been hell bent on getting away with their Parker Harding plans which nobody or at least a huge minority appear to support.
It has also been made very clear that nobody wants to park at imperial which is not a downtown lot in reasonable proximity to our retail stores and restaurants.
Amusing to read Randy Herbertson, Matthew Mandell, ( supposed to represent merchants) max Crowley ( who mind you is supposed to represent downtown merchants) and our administration and chief of police constantly talk about the staff of downtown as though they are second class citizens with regards to parking and all the while every single one of the above mentioned has dedicated parking for themselves and their staff right outside their place of work. 🤔
Have they forgotten that without immediate reasonable and safe parking in the vicinity of their work places we will not have any staff willing to come to work in Westport.
We are all very well aware that residents do not consider parking in imperial lot for themselves an option at all, therefore why should staff be expected to park there.
It is a 20 minute walk from the imperial lot to the j crew end of Main Street.
Busy intersections need to be crossed as well as when you take into account rain and snow and ice it is the height of rudeness and incredibly dismissive to suggest ANYONE park there.
What is going on here is a very sneaky and underhanded attempt to force staff to have no option but to park in a decrepit unsafe, insecure outpost far far from their work place thus adding not only time to their day ( but they are only staff so I suppose who cares) I presume the hope and intent is also to then try and justify once the “great unwashed” are off parked halfway to saugatuck that it will free up spaces to attemp to push parked Harding down our throats once again.
This is not rocket science. We can see exactly what is going on here.
I note the all day parking on the sign in the article represented by yellow lines which conveniently no longer exist in the Baldwin lot.
Might I suggest a few cans of yellow paint be purchased and the all day parking put back before any timed or metered parking is enforced.
You cannot expect to have a vibrant Main Street and refer to staff as though they are second class citizens.
If this were Europe the downtown retailers and restaurants would shut down for a week as a protest to this suggested change.
While I realise this is not practical because we all have rents to pay , it is time to stop forcing staff down a road that the rest of us do not have any intention of walking, namely parking in a remote far away lot.
There should be at a minimum collaboration with merchants and restaurants on this unlike happened on Parker Harding until enough people became aware of that clown show.
Exiling the very people who enable the downtown to be open and vibrant is not a good plan.
And as I mentioned up top the opinion of those who have parking outside their place of work is irrelevant.
In fact I’d go so far as to say their opinion doesn’t even matter, because they are all unaffected.
The intent here is underhanded to say the least and furthers the case ( in a court of law) that staff are being banished to a far away lot to again push for losing parking in Parker Harding.
3 hour times parking is also insufficient for folks coming to town to eat and shop.
It is impractical and typical that none of the people suggesting it are currently owners of the effected businesses.
More and more the predominant reason people come downtown is to eat, and that takes 2 hours so the biggest losers will be the retail stores even with 3 hour parking because there is not enough time to get to shop either before or after a meal.
People need at least 4 hours to dine and to shop.
I suggest instead of trying to bully and bulldoze through a Parker Harding grossly unpopular agenda, immediate work should happen on the imperial lot.
It is in by far and away the worst condition of all, and maybe if it were to be renovated, lit, cameras, security, bathrooms, a reliable frequent shuttle bus service, maybe the idea of parking ALL the way over there would not be met with quite as many objections.
There is NO reason not to spend the next few months working on imperial.
I’m a massive fan of the remarkable theatre and the farmers market and unfortunately this will not suit them at all BUT if you expect staff to park in that derilict dump then please fix it up first.
It will contribute least to traffic and least inconvenience to merchants and residents to start on that one first.
Classic example of not having your cake and eating it.
Or talking out of both sides of your mouth.
After it is fixed up maybe the plans for our actual downtown parking lots will be a lot clearer.
One does wonder why this was not the first parking lot to be addressed.
Hmm though I believe many of us knows the answer to that also.
I am pleased that the administration decided to hold off on their reinstatement of the 2 hour parking rule. I am a supporter of metered parking. Think it solves a lot of the issues but certainly not at the risk of reduced parking and elimination of the cut through. That said, I also think that banishing employees to the Imperial lot isn’t so Imperial. I AGREE WITH Ciara’s assessment that better lighting, cameras and security should be provided, but without adequate shuttle service what are employees suppose to do on a cold snowy day in January or February. Additionally, those who work in the restaurants are forced to walk the 15 minutes it can take to get from the Imperial lot to the end of town. I see many of the employees who work in both the restaurant and retail businesses spending money shopping downtown as well. They should also be respected and not treated like we have a Caste society. After all, it really is not very DEI is it?
“ You cannot expect to have a vibrant Main Street and refer to staff as though they are second class citizens.”
Well said. Expecting workers to park in the Imperial lot will not work. Stores and restaurants have a hard enough time finding workers. Requiring them to park a 15-20 minute walk away from work will dissuade people from working downtown when places in other towns like Fairfield don’t have the same requirement.
At a very minimum I think a plan must be put in Place so as to not have a mass exodus of the staff both retail and restaurant as I presume this idea is to fully acknowledge that NOBODY, literally wants to park there.
If the imperial lot looked like a lot, with taking into account its huge short falls and the enormous sacrifice that it will take for staff to choose to continue to work in Westport, then security, lights, cameras, and a consistent shuttle bus, should be a given.
I suggest this administration wakes up and does not continue to sabotage business And actually starts to thank businesses for their huge role in “bringing back the downtown”,
If they asked nicely instead of inferring that the lack of parking is down to the staff because how dare they park where they work, they might gain some agreement for this new plan tho not so new idea.
And if the DPIC, downtown association, chamber of commerce, police department and administration could acknowledge that their employees will be unaffected by this as they have parking right outside their door, then come up with a viable workable plan that somehow involves the owners of businesses and their staff can get their heads around.
This is long term parking at the airport.. it is not a downtown lot, it is a serious inconvenience and to just assume because staff need to park there ( with full public opinion stating they would never) means then make it a place that appears like less of a punishment and more of a request.
Make it appear at least a viable option.
And possibly when you are dealing with downtown staff acknowledge the schlep they had to make to get to work in order to not have us/you do the same.
Make it safe, with security, with lighting and cameras, with a shuttle and a waiting area for the same, heated and air conditioned.
This is not an owner of a business or a tenants duty, after all we are not banishing our staff to the dregs of town, the administration is.
Uber does not work, it is increasingly hard to get an Uber because Uber has become a monopoly along with Lyft and now takes 50% of the price of the ride. ( shocked ? Ask your next Uber driver, I am not exaggerating, this is fact.
Uber cancels regularly last minute and as 50/50 shareholders in their paycheck who could blame them?!
So a reliable frequent shuttle bus is the only solution and the town needs to operate it and pay for it.
The subject of the “special services district” came up today while speaking with someone on the DPIC, as though this not ever heard of and not yet even agreed upon “mafia” entity will have to organize shuttles etc, but let me tell you it was clearly not that persons first go around of who will pay and how it will be paid for !
How about the huge taxes the businesses already pay for the privilege of doing business in the downtown( those taxes are paid for by tenants not landlords by way of NNN, triple nets. )
The “special services” district aims to put under the control of the “mafia” amongst other things the garbage( quelle surprise) and the maintenance, the beautification, lighting etc, for I can promise you a very high price.
It is slated for the downtown right now and has been kept very quiet for fear of an uprising , but make no mistake, it will become a faite accompli for saugatuck and for the rest of town.
That is unless it along with Parker Harding and reinstatement of the already proven failure of time limited parking and the “special services” district all end up in court in front of a judge who will decide their fate.
It does appear that in order for the “dreamers” to stop dreaming and spending our money we will need to go to court to put a stop to this mafia bs going on.
I caution merchants and all businesses to be on the lookout for the next phase of this madness, known as the “special services district” which when you are fully educated on you will not even believe it is happening.. welcome back to the 1940’s!
If anyone is interested in the documents I have on it I will be happy to provide, or better yet as you all know Sal Liccione the future head of the coming soon merchants association, reach out to him for full disclosure.. it will be up to our elected finance
Board to pass this nonsense or to choose to not pass it so please vote very carefully in the next election in November.
It’s quite frightening to know I am one of the only members of the public in possession of this knowledge, this “transparent” I jest process, about which you will all be the last to “find out”, but make no mistake it is coming in some form unless stopped and it reeks of mafiaesque business
Time for discussions on how to make outpost parking a viable option including the renovation of the said lot and the shuttle service and its security.
We do not need to read about the deaths of or the mugging of our downtown employees, exiled to that lot the rest of us have refused to even consider.
I have had more than enough I told you so moments with this and the last administration to last me a lifetime… I do not want the lack of care or safety of employees to be the next.
As it stands imperial parking lot is decrepit and out of date x20 compared to even the condition of Parker Harding.
It is the next parking lot that needs to be seen to and fully renovated( sorry farmers market as I am a monstrous fan, but this needs to get done)
Sacrifices all around here..
let’s all start to wake up, smell the inevitable and get to work.
While In school I worked at a Ralph Lauren store in Highland Park, TX. It was known the employees of the stores did not park in front of the stores and were expected to park across the street in a large well lit parking lot. Customers also parked in this same lot across the street. Customer and employees parking next to each other. AMAZING!!!
I think there is some common sense compromises which can be made here.
1) Create dedicated employee parking in a range of lots. The parking would be along the back edge of the lots. This could be achieved with minimal signage and mostly through education/expectations set by employer to employee. The dispersement across a range of lots should not dramatically impact one area.
2) Institute a 3 hour time limit in “non employee”parking areas from the hours of 10AM to 6PM. Logic suggests a significant number of spots will open up and turn over at 6PM when the retail employees leave and dinners come to town. Look at the Bar Taco parking situation as a case study.
3) I am not a fan of parking meters and apps. Paying to park in the suburbs is a tax. Economics says if you want less of something you tax it. Parking fees will result in fewer visitors to Downtown Westport when you pay to park and then you will have people parking in residential streets to avoid the “tax”.
You also have to ask the question where does the parking fee zone end. Do you have to pay to park at library, city hall, or visit the police station? Who will be exempted from these fees at these locations?
The mention of the Imperial Avenue site seems sort of ad hoc… if I remember correctly, when a plan to upgrade and beautify that property came up for discussion last year, Public Works said it needed the lot available to dump snow.The police use it for motorcycle training. Last week a bunch of garbage trucks were being inspected there. And I have seen the occasional transient RV and camper trailer spend a few days there.
In addition to needing an actual, feasible, practical plan that moves traffic and provides adequate employee and shopper parking, the Downtown Merchants Association and the Select People need to visit New Canaan, Wilton, Greenwich, etc. to see how they do it and get a better handle on how to do it here.
I think we all just want safe parking for our employees.. safe and accessible.. that tmeans a shuttle
It means lights and cameras.. and security..
these are basic requirements..
the town has to pay for these and acknowledge them.
I’m feeling a very racist vibe on parking… my daughter who works at my restaurant just said.. mom this is racism.. I’m inclined to agree..
if a single member of my staff god forbid gets attacked… with the full force of my ability I will sue the town… and I know I will win.. the question will be at what cost….