Committee amends October parking overlay to commercial lots only; home-rule petition for $2-per-space surcharge sent to full council

The Salem City Council Committee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal Affairs voted May 21 to amend a proposed expansion of the city’s October parking overlay so it would apply only to nonresidential (commercial) lots and not to residential properties, and it referred a companion home-rule petition — authorizing a $2 excise per space per day on private parking used for public parking — to the full council with a positive recommendation.

The amendment grew out of months of public discussion about enforcement, tenant displacement and fairness between neighborhoods. Mayor Pangala described the proposal as an effort to regulate short-term rental of private parking during October and to recoup costs borne by the city for public safety and transportation: "This is a proposal to expand the October parking overlay to the inclusive of the entire city and, extend the provision to, residential properties as well as commercial properties with the exception of, residential properties on resident restricted street parking streets." The mayor said the registration and surcharge mechanism would create transparency and a revenue stream for the city’s transportation enhancement fund.

The committee voted to remove the residential-lot exception in practice by approving an amendment to limit the ordinance to nonresidential lots. Councilor Stott, who said she supported expanding the overlay citywide, raised concerns about allowing rentals on resident-restricted streets and the effect on neighbors: "I'll start this off by saying I'm in full support of making the overlay citywide. I think the lines were arbitrary." Councilor Cohen said she favored extending the overlay for commercial properties but was conflicted about adding residential properties because of tenant impacts.

Under the ordinance as discussed by staff, property owners would register each site with the city and specify the number of spaces and dates they intended to make available during October. Staff said the registration fee would be $100 per property regardless of size; the home-rule petition would establish a surcharge of $2 per registered space per day (the home-rule language would permit a 25¢ annual inflation adjustment). The mayor noted the $2 rate is similar to surcharges used in other Massachusetts cities and that revenues were intended for transportation programs such as the Salem Skipper shuttle and bike-share.

Committee members raised enforcement questions. Staff told the committee that in 2024, properties inside the existing October overlay requested 1,431 spaces under that zone, and the building/billing department issued 73 zoning citations connected to private-property parking complaints. The city said the registration list should reduce inspection calls and that staff would perform random audits; failure to register accurately could result in fines and loss of future registration privileges.

The committee approved an amendment to delete the language allowing residential properties on resident-restricted streets to participate and to limit eligible off-street public parking to spaces on nonresidential lots; that amendment passed on a voice/hand vote (committee chair reported "3 hands plus my own"). The committee then referred the amended ordinance to the full council with a positive recommendation, and it separately referred the home-rule petition authorizing the $2 surcharge to the full council with a positive recommendation.

Votes at a glance: the committee approved an amendment to restrict the October overlay to nonresidential lots (amendment carries), referred the amended ordinance to the full council with a positive recommendation (carried), and referred the home-rule petition authorizing a $2-per-space-per-day excise to the full council with a positive recommendation (carried).

Next steps: the amended zoning ordinance and the home-rule petition will be considered by the full Salem City Council. If the home-rule petition is approved through the state special-act process, the city would levy the $2 surcharge on registered private parking used for public parking during the October period and direct those revenues to the transportation enhancement fund.