On-Street Parking Settled,
Residential Permits Await
COOPERSTOWN – Villagers whose heads may still be spinning over on-street parking, P&D machines and downtown parking permits, now have another concept around which to wrap their brains.
Residential parking permits.
The Village Board has scheduled a “workshop meeting” for 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 20. Mayor Jeff Katz anticipates a free-floating discussion to see if there is any consensus on the matter. The public is welcome, but no public comment.
“The residential permit idea goes back a long way,” said Katz, perhaps to 2007, when then-Trustee Lynn Mebust was chair the Streets Committee and began considering paid-parking options.
The idea – it’s common these days in major cities with neighborhoods like Beacon Hills, where homes don’t have driveways or garages – is to reserve a portion of parking spaces and allow neighbors who buy residential permits to park overnight or for extended periods during the day.
The complaint trustees hope to address, Katz said, is: “I can’t park by my house or close to my house.”
Homes without driveways combined with a lack of on-street parking is an issue in some parts of the village, whose founder, Judge William Cooper, designed for closely packed-together houses.
On Lake and River streets, residents with no driveways are competing with tourists. On Elm and Pioneer, they are competing with Bassett employees.
Whatever law trustees come up with must be approved by the state Legislature, said Trustee Cindy Falk, Streets Committee chair, but she said that’s rare.
Permit parking has worked for years in other cities. It still brings in revenue from the homeowners as they need to purchase the permits. Not having permits is not fair to workmen that are parked on the streets who are hired to work on homes during the day.