By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A no-parking zone at Greens Farms Elementary School has been extended for a block along Morningside Drive South.

The Board of Selectwomen, acting as the Local Traffic Authority, last week approved a plan to prohibit parking from the Morningside Drive South intersection with Post Road East, next to the school property, up to the intersection with Center Street.

The plan to extend the parking ban aligns with a program to designate safety zones around the town’s schools approved by the selectwomen last year, Deputy Town Engineer Matthew Niski told the board. It will also coincide with a sidewalk project expected to start within a month, he said.

Police Cpl. Alan D’Amura said the lack of no-parking signs next to Greens Farms school has hampered the ability of police to enforce the existing regulations.

“If there aren’t ’No Parking’ signs, the Police Department cannot enforce any of the violations in that area. There’s a fire hydrant in that area; there’s multiple intersections, crosswalks, stop signs and driveways,” he said.

There have been meetings on the proposed signs and sidewalk project with school safety officers, nearby residents, the Greens Farms Association, the Greens Farms principal and the Department of Public Works, D’Amura said.

“We think it will be very successful,” he said of the project. “It will help with kids cycling, walking and being able to get across the Post Road, and with less cars in that area, as well.”

Richard Ritter, who lives at 2 Virginia Lane abutting the school property, said he was concerned about lack of enforcement at the smaller no-parking zone on Morningside Drive South already in place next to the school.

“If they put up the signs, are they going to enforce them?” he asked the selectwomen. “There are signs there … when there’s a function at the school, people park there anyway … They literally pull into our private right-of-way and park like it’s a parking spot, and then we can’t get into our own driveway,” he continued. 

“I want to be sure they enforce it. It should be enforced fully.”

D’Amura said additional no-parking signs will help with enforcement and that an email will be sent to school parents advising them of the changes. Pick-up and drop-off locations and procedures at the school also may be adjusted, he added, and the Police Department will work with school officials to consider other possible changes, he said.

“We can also have an additional officer there to help alleviate some of the problems” for special events, such as field day, D’Amura added.

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.