WESTPORT — Enforcement of three-hour parking limits for designated street spaces and parking lots downtown will start Wednesday, May 1.
The parking limits were approved last August by the Board of Selectwomen, but implementation was delayed while officials awaited new signs to install at the spaces where the policy will be enforced.
Three-hour parking will be in effect from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week for roughly 550 downtown parking spaces, where one- and two-hour limits had applied prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those limits were suspended in June 2020 to encourage business during the pandemic, which had slowed substantially because of health and safety regulations.
Since the rules were suspended, no time limits have been enforced on downtown parking, which as business rebounded, has contributed to traffic congestion and complaints about lack of parking turnover.
Parking spaces along Post Road East will continue to be limited to 1 or 2 hours as designated.
Spaces previously designated as all-day parking will retain that status, officials said.
The parking limits will be enforced by police, who plan to monitor compliance with a new digital monitoring system.
In a statement announcing the May 1 enforcement of parking time limits, Tom Kiely, the town’s operations director, said the plan “is a strategic way to ensure fair access to parking spaces for everyone. The goal is to establish a well-run system that increases parking availability, efficiency, and turnover, not to be punitive.”
“This enforcement aims to address the issue of limited parking availability in high-traffic, high-volume areas, particularly during peak hours,” Kiely added.
Maps of the downtown parking lots and details on the number and types of spaces available can be found on the Discover Westport website.
Enforcement for the electric vehicles actually started about a month ago. There was a significant error in the charging algorithm. Fifteen minutes after charging your car completed, they imposed an idle fee of $10/hour. What should have happened is an idle fee after 3 hours and 15 minutes. I brought this to the town’s attention about 3 weeks ago and it was corrected within the past week. I do not believe that the town has informed those affected nor has refunded the excess charges. If you parked an EV in the town’s lots over the past month, you were likely overcharged and are due a refund.
This articles not even worth my wasting my breath commenting on . It’s the usual town drivel, from people with no business experience whatsoever ! None.
Not a single member of tookers committee dpic owns a retail sales business on main street.
And they haven’t got the first clue how business on Main Street is run, or how it stays solvent.
Nor it seems do a lot( not all) but a lot of the landlords.
Don’t know and don’t care !
I’m curious how the licence plate readers will work.
Does this mean if I come into town at 9am and stay till 11am,
But come back “as is my right” and park at 2pm for an hour.
Am I getting a ticket ?
Because now the licence plate reader will see me as parked from 9am-3pm…. Yet it was 2 visits..
nobody seems to have thought of that !
Of course not, that would complicate the end goal !
But please anyone know the answer to my question.
I’d love to hear. I hope there is an answer to that one, which directly affects residents in particular.