Source: Norwalk Advocate
The Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 yesterday to increase parking permit fees by 10 percent at train station and municipal lots throughout town.
The new rates would take effect next October at a total of 11 lots, and would generate approximately $147,000 in additional revenue each year for Greenwich's parking fund, according to figures provided by Alan Corry, the town parking services director. The increases will affect parking permits, not parking meters.
First Selectman Jim Lash said the increase will help replenish the parking fund for maintenance at structures, such as the Town Hall garage, which is undergoing more than $400,000 in construction now.
'My concern continues to be that we need money to spend on our parking facilities,' Lash said.
The changes will see annual fees at nine lots, including all outdoor railroad parking lots, increase from $242 to $266. Those include Arcadia Road, Carrona Drive, Horseneck Lane, Iron Horse Lane, Steamboat Road/Arch Street, Loughlin Avenue and Riverside, Old Greenwich and Cos Cob railroad stations. Rates at the covered parking garage downtown will rise from $423 to $465 per year, and at the West End lot in Old Greenwich from $165 to $181 per year.
Selectman Penny Monahan opposed the measure, saying Greenwich's parking permit rates are in line with those in towns such as Darien, Westport and Rye, N.Y. But Lash and Selectman Peter Crumbine said the rates are far lower than those in neighboring towns such as Stamford and Rye. In Stamford, annual parking permits can cost more than $1,000, outdoor parking permits cost $505 per year in Port Chester, according to Corry.
'I'm always reluctant to characterize other people's spending as moderate, but this (the new rates) wouldn't be out of line with the two adjacent towns,' Lash said.....
