HOULTON, Maine — It is not shoppers who are taking up most of the limited parking spaces in downtown Market Square, but the employees and employers who own and work at the stores in the historic district, town councilors were told Monday night.
Downtown business owners have complained about losing sales because shoppers have such a difficult time finding available parking spots near their stores.
During Monday’s council meeting, Houlton Police Chief Joe McKenna and Nancy Ketch, community development director and grant writer, gave an update on the parking situation about which McKenna has said he regularly gets complaints.
He said that since police had stepped up parking patrols in July, they had written 37 parking tickets, all but one of which had been paid.
The chief said he believes the increased patrols have helped to curb abuse of the two-hour parking rule in the downtown. Officers have been down in Market Square chalking tires as much as is practical, he said, but he can’t always have one of the two officers who work each shift trying to catch parking violators in the downtown.
McKenna said he has determined that the downtown spaces are mostly being taken by employees and business owners who want to park in front of their stores and have a quick walk from car to shop.
“What needs to happen is that store owners and employees need to use the lots on Mechanic Street and near the Courthouse,” the chief said.
After calculating the estimated value to area merchants of parking spots in Market Square, Ketch said she believed that most store owners would want to open up those spaces for customers.
“One space in the downtown is worth $45 to $50 for a day,” she said. “If those are taken and you are a business owner, that is money right out of your pocket.”
She added that people have told her that they would like to shop more locally, but they don’t because they can’t park closer to the stores.
As a member of the downtown committee formed this summer to review priorities for the area and develop long- and short-term goals, Ketch has talked with a number of business owners and shoppers about downtown issues. She also is a member of a downtown parking subcommittee that was formed at the same time to focus on the parking problem and to find solutions.
Both committees continue to meet regularly.
McKenna said that some residents have suggested raising the two-hour parking limit downtown to four hours, but he said he did not believe that would work.
“It is not an issue of time,” he said.
Town Manager Butch Asselin said that several years ago there was talk of making the parking spaces on Broadway all-day parking. When he raised the idea with the staff at the Cary Library, however, they did not think it was a good idea.
“They wanted those spaces open for library patrons,” he told councilors.
Ketch suggested a downtown parking study was necessary before any changes are made.
Councilor Wade Hanson said he would support such a study “if one could be conducted at no cost to the town.”