With an eye on the imminent completion of the Angier School construction project, the Newton Traffic Council has just approved a new Waban Village Parking District.
The plan involves various parking limitations on Dorset Rd and the portion of Beacon St near Angier School. Portions of those roads would be designated as a two hour limit except by Waban permit, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Presumably, the intent is to keep these prime parking areas around the school from being used by T commuters during the day.
This is intended to be a preliminary plan, put in place in time for the Angier re-opening. The Waban Area Council will be discussing the new plan at it’s next meeting on Dec 12. They’re imagining that there will be some further tweaking and fine tuning of the plan after hearing more public input.
Newton has a commuter parking issue and I am very happy to read about these steps about parking in Waban Center. I hope it is expanded further around other MBTA train stations (commuter rail and green line).
What is the justification for charging residents a fee?
This is the city ordinance around permit parking http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/49978
Here is a link to the maps for all of our current neighborhood parking plans, including Waban, as they currently stand:
http://www.newtonma.gov/gov/dpw/transportation/
While this is definitely new in Waban, the rest of Newton largely has similar restrictions around commuter rail and the T areas. Newtonville has 2 hour parking limits pretty much sounding the village center.
That isn’t to say we are lacking in commuter parking. There is a ton on Washington Street that goes unused. It costs $4.50 a day, 12 hour meters.
I also know there are some secret parking spots around the village that folks know about without the restrictions, but I prefer to just pay the $4.50 and have my car close by, or to walk.
I think the hard part is that the village parking enforcement fine is only $15, and it is rarely enforced. I have two hour parking in front of my house for the high school via permit, and each year some high school students seem to park and just ignore the fines. Sometimes they block my driveway partially, which is annoying, sometimes they park close to a corner a few houses down, which is dangerous. I simply call the City and they ticket. I keep calling every day until the student stops violating the rules. But without that action, I’m sure they’d just ignore the signs.
I’d be in favor of the parking violation being raised to $25. For commuters, $15 is much less than parking in Boston, which is now $40 or more.