Now that winter is (hopefully) behind us, At-Large Councilor Mark Coen wants to explore changes to the city’s winter parking ban policy that could save unlucky motorists a chunk of change – if they learn from their mistakes.
Speaking at a Concord Parking Committee meeting last week, Coen said that while the city tries to connect with residents when a parking ban is in place, some still end up getting ticketed and towed. The issue is compounded by the fact that almost 48 percent of towings that had occurred by January in the city were cars registered outside of Concord, according to city officials.
The city has kicked around the idea of implementing beacons to alert people when a ban is in place, a cost of about $165,000. But data from Manchester, which has beacons, shows that plenty of cars still get tagged and towed even with the beacons.
Coen said he wasn’t sure spending the money would be worth it when other methods, such as giving a pass to someone ticketed for the first time or waiving the ticket when someone gets towed, could be more effective in educating people.
“I’d rather not collect the $100 for the first time,” Coen said. “I really think it’s going to be as effective as spending the money for beacons.”
The idea would certainly have a financial impact on the city’s parking revenue stream. Concord has had 11 parking bans this winter, including seven citywide bans and four downtown-specific bans.
The bans have racked up 322 citations and have resulted in 147 towings.
Last year, the city issued 300 tickets in relation to a winter parking ban, for a total revenue of $30,000, about 11 percent of the $274,205 generated by parking violations last fiscal year, according to city data. That figure does not include late fees.
The city and the towing companies it contracts with agree upon a towing rate during the fall. This year, the towing rate is $120, plus $60 if you want to get your car outside of operational hours, according to city documents. If you don’t fetch your car the first day, there is also a storage fee of $50 per day. That money goes to the towing companies.
Had all of this year’s offenders only been ticketed once under Coen’s suggested changes, that would have deprived the city of $32,200 worth of revenue, something the parking ban desperately needs to stay out of the red.
But the idea behind a ticket, Coen said, is to change people’s behaviors, not generate revenue.
“We issue them to make sure the streets get plowed … during a time when we’re not gaining money from parking anyway,” he said.
Councilors Brent Todd and Byron Champlin liked the idea, calling it a step in the right direction.
“When a police officer encounters an offense, it’s their judgment to give a ticket or a warning the first time,” Todd said.
But such a system would take some monkeying with the current system. Parking enforcement director David Florence said officers on the street don’t have the ability to check which cars have been towed before, meaning tickets would still have to be issued and residents would still have to go down to the police station to work the situation out.
And Deputy City Manager for Development Matt Walsh noted the warning system won’t help those who have been towed.
The committee plans on reviewing what kind of financial impact the change could have next month.
If you’ve been itching to get outside, now’s your chance: The city’s recreation areas are starting to open up.
The track at Memorial Field is now open, as are many of the outdoor basketball courts and playgrounds. Many of the city’s outdoor tennis courts open later next week, weather permitting.
All athletic fields are still closed; check out the Concord Parks & Recreation website and Facebook pages for more openings.
A series of water main replacement projects on portions of Warren, North Fruit and Kensington streets as well as part of Westbourne Road will begin Monday, with work on Warren Street and Westbourne Road beginning Monday. North Fruit Street work will start May 7 and go until June 1.
Shortly after the water main work begins, the city will also begin paving projects around the high school and around Rum Hill Road from May 7 to Aug. 20. Those roads will have alternating one-lane traffic during that time.
Over the course of the work, parents will drop off students at the Memorial Field parking lot – from which students will walk to the high school – and will pick them up on the west side of South Fruit Street. The CHS faculty parking lot entrance on Warren Street will be closed; the entrance will be moved to Pleasant Street.
Bus drop-off and pickup will be moved to Woodman Street behind Commons D. Special education transportation will move from North Fruit Street to the Westbourne Road parking lot.
There will be no parking, stopping or standing on parts of North Fruit, Liberty and Woodman streets and Westbourne Road from Monday to June 1.