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Select Board adopts new downtown parking rules, shortens municipal lot maximum to 96 hours
Summary
The Nantucket Select Board closed a public hearing and approved edits to Town Regulations Chapter 375 (Traffic) to allow future paid municipal parking, tighten enforcement, and reduce the maximum parking time in municipal lots from seven days to four (96 hours). The board set a target effective date and asked staff to lead public outreach.
The Nantucket Select Board on Jan. 22 closed a public hearing and approved changes to Town Regulations Chapter 375 (Traffic) that add definitions for municipal paid parking, create a resident permit for Wait Drive, tighten enforcement language for abandoned vehicles and align on-street and off-street maximum parking to 96 hours.
The changes, presented by police and town staff, add language allowing the town to implement paid parking in municipal lots and to hire a third-party parking management vendor to process payments. The regulations also shorten the maximum parking time in municipal lots from seven days to four days and clarify the process for restricting overnight parking when posted.
The board and staff discussed enforceability: Chief of Police Mike Burns said the intent is that a vehicle must leave a lot to reset the 96-hour clock, and that license-plate reader and other technology pilots will make enforcement more practical. Resident public commenter Meg Ruhle said she worried that restricting lot parking would push cars to nearby neighborhood streets such as Amelia Drive.
Madam Chair and staff agreed to additional outreach and recommended an effective date near March 1 to allow notice and implementation. The board voted to close the public hearing and approve the regulation edits; members asked staff to coordinate the public-notice campaign and work with the chief on enforcement details.
The board did not adopt a specific, systemwide enforcement plan at this meeting; staff said the enforcement plan will be presented separately and that the chief will hold off enabling the “acquire additional parking time by fee” provision until the town finalizes details.
The revisions are intended to support demand-management objectives identified in the board’s strategic plan and provide legal authority to run paid parking pilots and to better address long-term storage and abandoned vehicles in municipal lots.
