ROCKLAND, Maine — The city should undertake a comprehensive study of parking needs, an advisory panel has recommended.
The Rockland parking advisory committee is scheduled to meet with the City Council Wednesday evening to discuss the need for a study and the issues that the committee members have faced.
“The issues of parking are complex and involve many different stakeholders,” the panel stated in a Sept. 6 memo to the council.
The last citywide study of parking in Rockland was in 2002, and the committee said Rockland has evolved greatly since then. The consulting firm of Casey & Godfrey Engineers of Gardiner concluded in that 2002 study that the downtown had a shortage of 122 spaces.
The committee said the study should be done without spending additional tax dollars and suggested the economic development director try to find outside funding for the work.
Among the issues that the parking committee said it has been dealing with is whether the noon to 1 p.m. ban on trucks making deliveries to downtown businesses should be expanded or changed to limit delivery truck parking to one side of the street.
Overflow parking on city streets from people using the Maine State Ferry Terminal also is an issue that should be dealt with again, the committee recommended.
The committee members also will discuss a meeting they had with police about whether the city should tow vehicles that park illegally for days at a time or whether the parking fine amounts are adequate to deter violators.