Some of Concord’s city councilors recommended Monday that staff use targeted on-street parking bans more aggressively where snowbanks choke the road.
Mayor Jim Bouley said he knew of two instances when a driver began to plow Albin Street, only to become so squeezed by protruding parked cars that he had to reverse his way back out.
Bouley said he’s “sincerely worried” that a similar situation could prevent first responders from getting to the scene of an emergency.
The city has called for only one targeted ban – a stopgap measure pending snow removal – so far this winter, said Chip Chesley, the General Services Department director.
“Wouldn’t that be one of those situations where people would go, ‘Aha, maybe we ought to put an emergency notice out here?’ ” Bouley asked.
Chesley said snowbanks hadn’t become a problem until recent back-to-back nor’easters. But his crews will likely soon post some of the skinny streets, “because we’re basically losing them” to encroaching snow and parked cars.
City Manager Tom Aspell said Concord tries to avoid towing its residents’ cars, instead giving them enough time to make the “intelligent decision” to move elsewhere when they’re constricting the road.
Chesley added: “Unfortunately, last night, 22 people didn’t make the right decision, and we had to tow their cars.”
The councilors’ suggestion comes at a time when the parking committee is considering how to best handle the problem going forward. In addition to the targeted bans, the committee is planning a case-by-case study of “problem streets” that have been identified in a joint effort by department heads. Fire Chief Dan Andrus said there are 53 on the list.
Concord’s police chief, Bradley Osgood, has also recommended the city consider implementing a five-month-long overnight on-street parking ban to help alleviate the problem. Aspell noted that’s been the police department’s position for decades.
“It is recommended that the City Council consider a seasonal overnight parking ban from November 1 – April 1,” Osgood wrote in a Jan. 31 report, noting that such action could alleviate “many issues” faced by the police and general services departments.
More frequently than targeted bans, officials currently call for blanket parking bans one night at a time when storms are anticipated.
Osgood also supported the parking committee’s plan to study streets on a case-by-case basis and endorsed the current practice of using targeted bans.
In a separate report, the parking committee outlined a four-step process for which it sought guidance from multiple departments. It plans to develop criteria to determine what makes a “narrow street”; develop a list of narrow streets; hone the list to find which streets are problematic to public safety, maintenance or traffic flow; and recommend changes in parking or traffic flow for each individual “problematic narrow street.”
The city’s public streets differ so greatly in width, traffic and on-street parking that parking committee members last month favored an individualized, ad-hoc approach to relief, such as converting streets to one-way traffic or eliminating parking on one side. The parking committee will continue to review the issue at its Feb. 27 meeting.
Any proposed changes would require a public hearing before the city council. That would likely be in addition to neighborhood meetings organized by the parking committee.
Newcomers to the city who rely on overnight on-street parking would likely bristle at the proposition that it would be banned. But those residents with longer memories will recall that a permanent overnight ban was in place for most of the city as recently as 2011, according to Monitor archives.
The overnight ban was established in 1927 to prohibit on-street parking for more than 30 minutes between 2 and 6 a.m. without police permission. In 2008, it was partially lifted for a pilot program in an area of downtown and Ward 6.
By 2010, the pilot program was adopted permanently for that specific area, and by 2011, the ban was lifted citywide, beginning the era that continues today.
Drivers on skinny streets with parking on both sides are accustomed to pulling over and waiting when the roadway is too constricted for two vehicles to comfortably pass. This can be the case even in summertime, Osgood wrote in his report.
The chief noted five streets – Perry Avenue, Essex Street, Blake Street, Federal Street and Beaver Street – as a sampling of the areas that can pose a greater-than-average concern for public safety vehicles.
Osgood said the police department and its parking division work in concert with the General Services Department to identify streets that should be temporarily posted for parking bans because of piling snow. This “continues to be a good practice,” he said.
Additionally, he supported the plan to develop a list of problematic narrow streets. “Each street or neighborhood is unique and it is quite possible that there is no one-size-fits-all solution,” he wrote.
But Osgood also recommended the city council go a step further in considering reinstating the overnight on-street parking ban on a seasonal basis, as opposed to the former year-round ban.
“This would allow a more effective plowing curb to curb and efficient removal of snow on narrow streets and high traffic neighborhoods,” he wrote.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at
@NickBReid.)