Commission reviews parking plan for Alta development; staff to draft repeals and new time-limits

Developers for the Alta project asked the commission to create new time‑limited parking near Mechanic and Lincoln Streets as part of the site plan. Unidentified Speaker 1 summarized a developer diagram showing six new spaces on Mechanic (proposed 30‑minute), 11 spaces along Lincoln (proposed 1‑hour), two prospective‑tenant spaces near the leasing office and a cluster of 22 rail‑trail lot spaces proposed as 2‑hour. "So this part, you're saying there's a 2 hour parking right here, and they're looking for 1," Unidentified Speaker 1 said during the review.

Staff told the commission they found conflicting existing regulations: an existing "no parking anytime" segment on Mechanic would need repeal and parts of the Lincoln time‑limit language must be rewritten so the new designations begin at Mechanic rather than earlier points. Aaron Lambert (police department) and engineering staff agreed the town will need to repeal or amend discrete segments of the code rather than issue a blanket change. "So we'd have to repeal both and then create the new ones," Unidentified Speaker 1 said, describing the process staff will follow.

Commissioners discussed temporary allowances during initial occupancy: giving the developer temporary parking permissions while spaces are being filled, then reverting to standard limits. Staff (Ashley Miller, Engineering) agreed to prepare a color‑coded spreadsheet and draft repeal/amend language for the commission to review at the next meeting; the commission can then vote to repeal existing segments and adopt the new time‑limited designations. No repeal vote was taken at this meeting; staff will return with the formal language and a proposed timeline for implementation.