Haverhill committee approves one-year trial to delay winter parking enforcement to Dec. 1; council to explore multilingual QR notices

Haverhill City Councilor Councilor Basilea proposed and the public safety committee approved a one-year trial to delay the start of the city's winter parking enforcement to Dec. 1, with staff asked to develop multilingual notices (including QR codes linking to translations) and the full council asked to consider shortening the end of the season.

"But what I'm proposing is that we would cut 2 weeks off the beginning," Councilor Basilea said during committee discussion, framing the change as responsive to resident input and recent low-storm winters.

The measure was presented as a limited, one-year trial that would preserve existing emergency safeguards: "The mayor has the authority to declare a snow emergency," Basilea noted, a power the committee said would allow enforcement and towing if a significant storm developed outside the trial dates. Sergeant Lynch said, "The police department supports what the council's resolution on this issue is," while also emphasizing that "the system we have now has been working."

Committee members debated whether to also move the end of the season up by two weeks (for example, from April 1 to March 15). Counselors and staff agreed the same emergency-declaration authority would apply if late-season storms occurred. Councilor Ferreira pressed for clearer outreach and asked that warning flyers be translated; Basilea and staff discussed Spanish and Portuguese as likely priorities and proposed a QR code on notices to link people to multiple languages online.

A resident who said he had prepared a detailed proposal for the council urged caution about enforcement in mild winters, saying his review showed a period when the city issued about "$70,000 worth of tickets" before the first plowable snow. Committee members acknowledged that if the trial produced unintended results staff and members could revisit the policy.

Councilor Basilea moved the measure to delay the start to Dec. 1 for a one-year trial and to investigate QR-code multilingual notices and whether to shorten the season end; President Sullivan seconded. The motion passed on a voice vote with members responding "Aye." The committee indicated the recommendation will go to the full council for final action.

Next steps noted during the meeting included drafting the revised enforcement notice (with QR code options), obtaining a language list from staff for translated material, and monitoring tickets and enforcement outcomes during the trial period before any permanent change.