Swampscott Police Capt. Joseph Kable presented the Select Board with potential parking enforcement options for the town at its meeting Thursday.
The parking conversation stems from discussions in July, when Police Chief Ruben Quesada noted discrepancies in parking regulations around town. For example, one side of Columbia Street requires resident stickers, while the other requires recreation stickers. Kable described the current parking regulations and police discretion as “patchwork.”
The Select Board did not vote on any of the options. Town Administrator Nick Connors suggested bringing the issue to a public meeting to gather residents’ comments before returning it to the Select Board.
“We want to drive down the street, put all the plates and handle locations that they have parked and then return two hours later, or whenever the time of restriction is, move back on the street, check the cars by the list and issue tickets at that point,” Kable said, noting that often officers are “tied up” and cannot complete the second check. “The business owners are frustrated. The residents are frustrated, but we’re unable to address it at this point.”
There have been a lot of parking complaints centered around Humphrey Street. Lilly Tapper, the owner of Three Hundred Fifty bakery, said at a Select Board meeting in March she had talked with other Humphrey Street business owners, who had concerns about the RFPs, particularly the site’s limited parking capacity.
“We rely on a very small number of parking spots on Humphrey Street, so bringing in more businesses in the Hawthorne-by-the-Sea space would further be detrimental to that,” Tapper had said. “Without any infrastructure improvements, adding to the supply does not grow with the demand in the area. It would just redistribute it and negatively affect the existing businesses there.”
To streamline the enforcement process, Kable laid out different parking zones around town. He noted that not every street would be restricted, but everyone “would be eligible for a sticker within their zone.”
The first area is “within walking distance to the schools.”
“From there, we worked on the beach side, basically with the logic that if you live along the beach, you’re probably not going to drive to another beach,” Kable said, point to the remaining area as the last section of parking, which “would include the depot, the government area, the library and the post office.”
The different zones would be identified by parking sticker colors, which Kable said would make it “immediately recognizable if there is a violation.”
“This is absolutely just a starting point,” Kable said.
In July, Quesada – along with Lt. Brendan Reen and Lt. Steve Luck – presented an overview of parking enforcement across the town. There was an influx of citations during the snow storms on January 25 and February 7. The presentation followed several discussions, including ongoing debates over the need for additional parking on Humphrey Street, in Vinnin Square and at the train station.
The top 10 locations where the Swampscott Police Department issued citations so far this year were:
- Swampscott Train Station Depot – 105 citations
- Humphrey Street – 58 citations
- Paradise Road – 48 citations
- Phillips Beach / Avenue – 41 citations
- Pitman Road – 30 citations
- Preston Beach – 23 citations
- Burrill Street – 20 citations
- Cherry Street – 16 citations
- The Greenway – 14 citations
- Cedar Hill Terrace – 10 citations
The top 10 violation categories during the first six months of the year were:
- Resident Sticker
- Impeding Snow Removal
- Recreation Sticker
- Restricted Area / Prohibited Place
- Parking in Fire Lane
- Other Violations
- Overtime Parking
- Parking on Sidewalk
- Wrong Direction Parking
- Recreation Sticker (Kids Cove / Columbia)
It was also announced in July that Swampscott will begin charging $75 for parking tickets after town officials discovered that a Select Board-approved increase from last year was never implemented.
