Parking Officials: ‘Clean’ Waitlist for Lumberyard Lot Permits Down to 475

Parking officials say the number of New Canaan residents now waiting for permits for the convenient Lumberyard Lot next to the train station is 475—the lowest figure in memory.

Another 189 names are on a waiting list for the Richmond Hill Lot and 115 at Talmadge Hill, according to Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg.

The number of people on the Lumberyard waitlist had stood at 606 in November. But a total of 168 names were removed after people either opted out or failed to respond to a call for a $10 fee to remain on the waitlist, Miltenberg told members of the Parking Commission at their regular meeting Thursday.

Chairman Keith Richey called the 475 figure “very interesting.”

“There was a point not so long ago when we would say that there were 1,200 people on the waiting list,” Richey said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “We knew that was always false that it was more like 600. But now we are down from 600 now down to 475.”

The $10 fee, designed to ensure that the waiting lists are “clean”—that is, the names on them represent people who still are actively waiting for permits—was instituted two years ago.

For residents who fail to pay the $10 fee, the Parking Bureau for each of those years has extended the deadline and then Miltenberg and try to contact those people individually.

Commissioner Pam Crum asked how many of those are the waitlists sign up for permits at all three of the commuter lots (and pay $30 annually to remain on the lists). Miltenberg said “the majority” do so.

“Most people when they come in and put their name on a waitlist, they are all three,” she said. “There are some of them who live on the south end who just do Talmadge Hill. But the majority do all three.”

Commissioners also asked Miltenberg whether the response rate among those on the waitlist is 50/50 (higher than that), whether the yield on Lumberyard is 100 percent (yes) and whether she figures there are just 500 people total waiting for commuter parking permits (yes.).

Commissioner Chris Hering asked how many spots would be allocated to commuters under the new decking design for Lumberyard.

First Selectman Kevin Moynihan had said during a press briefing earlier Thursday that a meeting with a New York City-based engineering firm that’s working “design concepts” was postponed due to foul weather. Those renderings originally were to come in by the end of February.

Officials have estimated that some 250 spaces could be added to the Lumberyard Lot, which currently has 351 spots. Of those new spaces, about 75 would serve businesses, Moynihan has said.