UPDATED: Parking Task Force Informally Recommends Extending Paid Parking Hours And Increasing Costs
Task Force also in favor of half-price parking for all MDI residents
BAR HARBOR—The Parking Solutions Task Force lacked a quorum again when it met on Thursday but gave an informal recommendation to the Town Council about how to proceed with potential changes to the parking fees and costs at municipal lots and spaces.
Interim Town Manager and Finance Director Sarah Gilbert and Betsy Spear, town financial analyst, presented possible scenarios that could potentially increase revenue generated from visitor parking as well as try to move people out of the most congested portions of downtown Bar Harbor and into the outskirts of downtown proper.
The goal is to generate $1.3 million more than normal as per the budget approved by voters at the town meeting on Tuesday. Doubling the rates in the premium spots was suggested by John Burke, a consultant who had previously worked with the town to create the plan.
“If we recommend no changes,” member Heather Sorokin clarified, “then the budget would have a deficit.”
The group informally (because there was no quorum it could not be a formal recommendation) agreed to recommend the third scenario with the two-hour expansion. Sorokin preferred another proposal.
Harbormaster and Special Services Lieutenant Christopher Wharff said that unless there is a $2 gap between premium parking and other parking, the town shouldn’t expect any movement from the premium spots to outskirts locations. There is not a maximum amount of time to park for many of the parking lots.
There was discussion about whether or not extending paid parking hours to start at 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. rather than 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. was a good idea, with most of the discussion being about if earlier morning hours would infringe on business owners getting ready for the day and parking in front of their businesses to load and unload items.
Task Force member Martha Searchfield felt that the rates in Bar Harbor were so low compared to the rest of the world. According to town officials, Burke agreed with that, saying that Bar Harbor had one of the lowest rates of New England seacoast towns that charged for parking.
Sorokin said that she felt $4 was a lot to charge per hour for premium parking. “We don’t give away a lot in this town.” She said making things harder on people might not be the way to make more revenue.
Captain David Kerns said that the enforcement and ticketing isn’t what’s generating the revenue, but the meters’ presences. Councilor Matthew Hochman said that he wanted the town to be more proactive in showing what the parking revenues fund. Searchfield suggested a graphic in the council chambers showing how parking money has been used so far would help. It has been used for sidewalk reconstruction, road improvements and other projects.
Gilbert will present the informal recommendation at the June 20 Town Council meeting. The town’s parking fund is governed by town policy, which the Town Council can and has updated over the past four years. There is no need for a public hearing.
HALF PRICED PARKING TO ISLAND RESIDENTS
The group also informally supported and discussed half-priced Park Smart cards for all Mount Desert Island residents.
FREE FERRY TERMINAL PARKING
There is also free ferry terminal parking on Route 3 at the site of the future town marina and CAT ferry. Gilbert said that the town attorney from Rudman Winchell has said that parking at the ferry terminal is okay. There had been earlier discussion that this use was not allowed under state law.
Cars can currently park for free at the ferry terminal and take the free Island Explorer bus into town. RVs could also potentially park there, but the fifty parking spaces are striped for cars.
SAFETY AT DOWNTOWN CROSSWALKS AND INTERSECTIONS
Though there were no members of the public other than reporters at the meeting, Gilbert read an email James Mahoney sent to the Town Council, Friday, June 2.
In the letter, Mahoney said,
“For the past 2+ years I have been raising concerns about intersection and crosswalk safety to the Parking Solutions Task Force. In brief, the issues are unsafe sight lines at downtown intersections and parking spaces too close to cross walks that make pedestrian street crossings hazardous. Here is my recollection of the discussions at Parking Solutions Task Force meetings.
I attended the meeting of 9/21/21 and expressed my concerns about the sight line and crosswalk issues and about an unmetered parking space at the top of Atlantic Avenue that made 2-way traffic at the entry to the street impossible. The Task Force asked the Police Department and Public Works Department to study these issues and report to the Task Force.
I think the meeting of 12/16/21 was cancelled due to a lack of a quorum.
At the meeting of 1/27/22, the Task Force voted to eliminate the unmetered space at the top of Atlantic Avenue. There was a report about safety issues from the Police Department and Public Works Department. As I recall, it was reported that the distance from Atlantic Avenue to the first parking space on both sides conforms with the Town standard (15’?). There was discussion about whether 15’ was an appropriate distance and whether it was based on safety metrics. I mentioned that safe sight distances should be based on a variety of factors including speed limit, topography, curvature of the roads, proximity of the stop bar to buildings at the corner, etc. It was stated that the State of Maine DOT would be doing a safety analysis of intersections on Mount Dessert Street, and I requested that the Atlantic Avenue intersection also be studied.
At the meeting of 8/25/22 there was an agenda item regarding requests to remove parking spaces on Cottage Street and Main Street to enhance safety.
On the 4/20/23 Parking Solutions Task Force Meeting there was no agenda item pertaining to safety issues. There was not a quorum for the meeting but those present discussed the agenda topics. No one present at the meeting knew if the Maine DOT intersections study had been done. It was stated that a study was needed regarding intersection safety issues and crosswalks and that a comprehensive, rather than piecemeal, set of changes to improve downtown safety should be implemented. It was also stated that minor changes are being made in the striping of parking spaces this year to achieve compliance with the Town’s 15’ setback standard.
“I believe that there are serious safety issues at downtown Bar Harbor crosswalks and intersections. At the meetings I have attended, I don’t think anyone disputed that there are safety issues that should be addressed. I agree that a safety study should be done to guide the effort to define the remedial actions that are needed. I don’t understand why this issue is not receiving higher priority and therefore I request that the Town Council intervene to fund and ask Town staff to prioritize a study to evaluate downtown intersection and crosswalk safety issues. This study will likely not be completed and ready for implementation until 2024 so I suggest the following short-term measures be taken.
Reduce speed limits downtown and increase enforcement in congested areas.
Eliminate or shift metered spaces proximate to intersections with known sightline issues until the study is completed to verify the distances needed for proper sight lines. It is better to err on the side of caution with respect to known safety issues.
“Thank you for your consideration of these matters.”
According to Wharff, the street where Mahoney lives, Atlantic Avenue, complies with the town’s current ordinance stipulations for setbacks. He and Kerns also said that a couple of spaces on Cottage Street had been moved to conform with the ordinance.
Kerns said the town doesn’t have the authority to lower downtown speed limits. Only the Maine Department of Transportation has the authority to set speed limits on all roads.
The intersection of Mount Desert Street and Main Street would require a state safety study.
All other roads would require a study by Bar Harbor, which would require hiring a traffic engineer. The Cottage Street rebuild hasn’t gone out to bid and Kerns said it would be mindful to do this prior to the Cottage Street rebuild itself if it hasn’t already been done. The sight lines are addressed in the Cottage Street plan and rebuild. In it, all crosswalks have bump-outs. Cottage Street and Main Street both have reconstruction plans. So it would only be the rest of the town that needs a study.
The council could fund a study, but the budget was passed this week, so that would likely push any study until FY 2025.
Gilbert said that she would email Mahoney and talk about the authority of speed limit changes. She said that she’d also tell him that she’s going to discuss with Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt about the state of any current safety studies and maybe have a RFP for a traffic engineer for a future study.
Correction/Update: Though it was expressed at the committee meeting that because one of the changes involves a time change that is written into the town code, there would have to be a public hearing to extend the hours (if the council approves the changes), this is inaccurate. No public hearing is needed. Many thanks to Sarah Gilbert for correcting the record.
Losing metered parking spaces for safety concerns makes total sense. All the more reason not to sacrifice metered spaces on Cottage Street to the Coston Paradis 'B&B' that cronyism built. Their greed knows no bounds. If they'd wanted space for their hotel guests to pull up, they could have built it into their footprint. They could've spared some of the 45 rooms. Let's say 30 or so to actually be a B&B. Bar Harbor cannot spare high value road space to further indulge profiteering at the town's expense.