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Staff proposes data-driven criteria for residential parking permits; committee considers excluding town center from future permits
Summary
Staff proposed adopting formal designation criteria for residential permit areas and suggested excluding the town center from future permit creation while allowing existing homeowner permits to continue until sale; committee asked for permit-count data and homeowner vs. rental breakdown.
Ramsey presented a proposal to replace the current petition-driven residential-permit process with data-driven designation criteria modeled on Bethlehem’s policies. The proposed criteria would analyze parked car counts, available spaces, frontage type (residential vs. commercial) and other metrics before creating a permit area, rather than relying solely on a simple petition signature threshold.
Staff recommended excluding the town-center commercial district from eligibility for new permit areas going forward and allowing existing homeowner permits in that district to persist until property sale; new permits would not be created in the town center under the proposed approach. Committee members asked staff to report how many permits currently exist in the town center and to provide a breakdown of homeowner permits versus rental permits to inform the policy change.
Members discussed the fairness of creating permits for renter-occupied properties without considering long-term solutions. Ramsey emphasized the goal of encouraging walkability and ensuring permit creation is targeted and data-driven. The committee asked staff to return with data and a cleaned ordinance language reflecting designation criteria and the proposed town-center exclusion for new permits.
No ordinance change was adopted at the meeting; staff will prepare data on current permit counts and property types for the next meeting.
