Government

Town To Pay $20,000 To Replace Vandalized Parking Machines at Talmadge Hill Train Station

By |

Town officials on Tuesday approved a $19,508 contract with an Auburn, Mass.-based company to replace the two pay-to-park machines destroyed by vandals earlier this month at the Talmadge Hill Train Station lot. The “Parkeon Strada BNA PAL” machines from Wescor Parking Controls Inc. will take about eight to 10 weeks to arrive once approved by town funding bodies, Parking Manager Stacy Miltenberg told members of the Board of Selectmen at their regular meeting. One of the machine had its “whole insides taken out” during the vandalism, discovered Sept. 7, Miltenberg said at the meeting, held in Town Hall. “They attempted to break into the other machine, but when they found, I think, that there was not much money in the first, they abandoned the idea of breaking totally into the second machine,” she said.

Government

‘Ludicrous’: Parking Officials Uphold $75 Ticket for Fairfield Woman Parked in a Crosswalk 

By |

The Parking Commission on Tuesday night voted unanimously to uphold a $75 ticket issued to a Fairfield woman who was parked in a crosswalk on Elm Street. 

Patricia Hessel told members of the Commission at a special meeting that on July 6, she parked in downtown New Canaan just before noon to go shopping for her business and when she returned to her vehicle 10 minutes later, she found a ticket on her car. 

“Apparently, I parked in a crosswalk and I did not realize I did,” she told the Commission at its meeting, held in Town Hall. “I’m not from this town. Our town has big white lines [marking the crosswalk]. I did hesitate a bit, but then I got out of the car, I saw the sign and said to myself, ‘I guess it must be OK because [the arrow on the sign] is pointing both ways… But sure enough, I got a ticket.”

Hessel said that she didn’t take a photo of where her car was parked at the time the ticket was issued but went back at a later date and took a photo “to prove my case.” She presented the photo to the Commission as evidence. 

“The big white lines and red bricks [at the crosswalk] didn’t trigger any thoughts?” Commissioner Peter Ogilvie asked. 

Hessel replied “no” and reiterated that she was looking for large, white lines similar to what she’s used to seeing at crosswalks in Fairfield. 

“The [arrow on the] sign looked like it was pointing both ways, so I’m fighting it,” she said. “Believe me, I will never park there again.

Government

Selectmen Approve Lease Agreement: Boxcar To Launch Parking Service for 60 Spaces at St. A’s Next Week

By |

Town officials on Tuesday approved an agreement designed to boost commuter parking in New Canaan by 60 spaces through the St. Aloysius Church parking lot. Under a lease agreement that the Board of Selectmen approved by a 3-0 vote, the town will lease the spaces from St. A’s and make them available to commuters through a Cranford, N.J.-based company’s mobile app. Normally the company, Boxcar, works with private property owners who are offering spaces near train stations on a far smaller scale, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan.

Government

‘Ignorance Is an Excuse Under the Law’: Divided Parking Commission Voids New Canaan Woman’s Loading Zone Ticket

By |

The Parking Commission at its most recent meeting voted 3-2 to void a ticket issued to a New Canaan woman who had parked in a loading zone on Main Street. Elizabeth Zea told the commissioners that when she parked in front of the former Thali building around 9 a.m. on a Saturday in June to get her hair colored, she didn’t see a sign designating the area as a loading zone from 7 to 11 a.m. 

“I was gone for about 90 minutes and when I came back I got a ticket and thought, ‘What did I do?’ ” Zea told the Police Commission at its regular meeting, held July 12 at Town Hall. 

The only signs Zea saw were for two-hour parking from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., she said, and what she eventually discovered to be the loading zone sign was hidden behind a hanging basket. “Those darn hanging baskets,” Chairman Keith Richey said. Zea said that she liked flowers but “I really didn’t see the ‘No Parking’ ” designation. Since that specific loading zone has come up a few times at recent meetings of the Commission, the panel spent some time reviewing the history of its designation.

Government

Parking Bureau To Issue Additional Permits for Those Who Work Downtown

By |

Demand for a new type of parking permit serving those who work in downtown New Canaan businesses has been so high that municipal officials are looking to issue more of them. Designed to stop those employees from taking up free spaces on Main and Elm Streets, the 40 permits made available last summer for Morse Court and Park Street Lots (20 apiece) all have been sold and so the town is looking to issue another 10, according to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan. “There is no reason not to just continue to meet that demand,” Moynihan said last week during a media briefing held in his Town Hall office, in response to a question from NewCanaanite.com. The permits cost $438 per year. To help targeted downtown workers afford them, the Parking Bureau may also allow permit-holders to pay quarterly versus annually, Moynihan said.