Milford residents push back at public hearing on proposed five‑month winter parking ban

The Milford Board of Selectmen opened a public hearing on Sept. 22 on a proposal to reinstate the town’s winter parking ban — an overnight prohibition on street parking from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. running Nov. 15 through April 15. Chair Gary Daniels said the hearing was the first step before the board considers moving the ordinance back into effect.

Police Captain Craig Fry and Department of Public Works Director Leo Lasard said crews and plow operators face recurring problems when vehicles are left in the right‑of‑way during winter operations. Captain Fry said the town’s amber notification light and voluntary alerts (Nixle, soon Everbridge) have limited reach and that locating owners before towing requires multiple departments to coordinate, slowing snow removal. “If no one moves their vehicle, then we tow said vehicles,” Fry said, describing a process he called “very slow” when it relies on finding phone numbers and contacting owners.

Residents packed the meeting and urged the board to consider alternatives. Ariel Temple, who lives at 123 Union Square, said she feared for her child’s safety if the family must walk across the oval to reach a distant municipal lot during winter. “I have a small child, and it would pose a huge hazard for my child to be walking around the oval,” Temple said. Rebecca Bryant, who said she is seven months pregnant, told the board she could not safely walk a long distance with a newborn.

Others raised practical and equity concerns. Calvin Brooks, a Union Square resident, called a five‑month, townwide ban “unjust to punish everybody who follows the rules for the mistakes of a couple of people.” Justin Demoney and several other speakers urged a phased approach: begin more aggressive notification and ticketing, and test towing enforcement around storms before moving to a blanket, season‑long rule. “Why couldn’t year 1 we put into effect the normal winter snow ban and begin ticketing and towing the day before?” Demoney asked.

Board members and staff discussed potential mitigations. Officials noted two municipal lots (Garden Street and the new South Street lot at Clinton Street) would be exempt under the current draft and estimated those spaces provide roughly 30–35 spots combined; residents said that capacity would not absorb overnight demand from the downtown apartments. Ideas raised included renting municipal spaces, partnering with churches or businesses, crafting emergency permits for caregivers, changing start/end times for the ban and adopting rotating odd/even parking schemes used by larger cities.

DPW Director Lasard said the practical goal was safety and efficiency: “My biggest thing is to get the cars off the road during a snowstorm and let the guys do their job,” he said, adding that tight plow areas can cause trucks to strike parked vehicles.

The board did not vote on the ordinance at the hearing; it will hold a second public hearing on Oct. 13. Chair Daniels asked residents to submit additional written suggestions before then and said the board had taken notes on the public’s recommendations.

What’s next: the board scheduled another public hearing on Oct. 13; any ordinance change would return to the board for a vote after additional review and possible revisions to exemptions or enforcement procedures.