Town mulls resident-only parking sites at Mackerel Cove

Complaints say visitors using too many spots at the beach


The town is considering whether to reserve parking spaces at Mackerel Cove for residents, which could affect the bottom line generated by visitors.

“It’s an involved problem that has several challenges,” said Andy Wade, director of the parks department. “The main challenge is trying to create a policy that battles the geography of the land.”

According to Wade, attendance at the beach has risen since his first summer in 2016, leading to complaints from residents not able to park along the beach. The lot, which is 730 feet long with 75 spaces, is filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

The beach accepts two types of parking permits. For residents, there is a $15 seasonal pass that allows stickered vehicles to access recreational sites owned by the town, including Fort Getty, Park Dock and Mackerel Cove. This payment is a one-time fee to park for the entire summer. About 2,000 are sold annually, generating about $30,000 for the department.

The second permit, a daily parking tag for $15, is a placard with the date written on it issued to each visitor. According to Wade, roughly 1,300 of these day passes are sold annually, generating roughly $20,000 in revenue for his department.

Vehicles parked in the lot without either of these permits are issued a $25 ticket.

“From time to time, there are people who choose to risk it,” Wade said.

While police have the power to ticket these scofflaws, there is a seasonal patroller from the parks department specifically charged with that task. That employee, however, is responsible for enforcing parking throughout town, not just Mackerel Cove. Although Wade believes the majority of illegally parked vehicles are ticketed, the patroller is stretched thin during busy days, he said.

“We tend to get many of those infractors,” he said. “But some people do fall through the cracks.”

Additional parking for Mackerel Cove includes roughly 20 parallel spots on the street. These spots on the Mackerel Cove side of the road are at the west end of the beach. They are for residents only. There also are 23 parallel spots that stretch down Hamilton Avenue on the north side to Southwest Avenue. These spots are identified by signs and also require a resident sticker.

Instead of recommending a plan, Wade presented three options to the councilors during their Jan. 7 meeting. The first option was to double the daily fee to $30. Wade said this increase would dissuade visitors from coming to Mackerel Cove, freeing up spots for residents. According to his report, this change would be revenue neutral because he would only have to charge half as many visitors. The uptick, however, raised concerns.

“I’d prefer not to raise the fee,” said Mary Meagher, vice president of the council. “It always bugs me that people pay $30 to go on a beach. That just strikes me as terrible.”

Town Administrator Andy Nota agreed with Meagher, saying $15 is a fair price.

“That’s a good number for the services we provide at Mackerel Cove,” he said.

Another problem with this plan, according to Police Chief Ed Mello, is that the day pass would cost $5 more than the fine, which means the penalty would have to increase. A harsher fine, however, is harder to collect. Currently, Mello’s department collects less than 75 percent of the tickets it issues.

“We have to balance the fine with what people are willing to pay,” he said.

Wade’s second option was to eliminate visitor parking at the beach, making all 75 spots available to residents. This plan gained no traction.

The third option was a hybrid plan that would reduce the visitor parking to the easternmost 25 spots on weekends and holidays through Labor Day, which is when the lifeguards are relieved. The remaining 50 spots would be reserved for stickered vehicles. During the week, parking would remain status quo.

The councilors indicated support for this plan, although they offered variations. Councilman Bill Piva, Wade’s predecessor as director of the parks department, thought the 2-to-1 share was excessive.

“I don’t think it has to be that many,” he said. “Even if you throw in another six or eight spots.”

Instead of installing steel posts with aluminum signs, Nota recommended using sandwich boards. This would allow Wade to increase resident parking during the season if concerns were not mitigated.

“If we feel it’s not working, we can increase it to 10 or 15 spots,” Nota said.

The councilors also learned about parking issues along Fort Getty Road, which have increased since Wade’s arrival. According to Nota, the town only owns the “road proper,” meaning the pavement. The grass on either side of that road is private property, he said, and the burden to have vehicles towed is on the homeowners. Moreover, there is no rule on the books prohibiting drivers from parking on the median.

“We actually ignore vehicles parked there because we have no ordinance to back us up,” Mello said.

Plans to rectify that problem, however, are scheduled to be enacted before warm weather arrives.

Finally, Wade reiterated his concerns to the council about overwhelming his crew of high schoolGeneralstudents.& Local Contractor

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EDITORIAL: Town should take its time making decision, See Pg. 4