HOULTON, Maine — Those who plan on spending more than two hours in downtown Houlton might want to consider parking in one of the town’s municipal lots, unless a ticket is on your wish list.
Faced with numerous complaints from area business owners, the Houlton Police Department is stepping up its patrols of parking violators in the downtown area, marking tires and writing tickets to violators.
The time duration for parking spaces varies greatly throughout the downtown. In some places it is two-hour parking, while other locations have 30- or 15-minute time limitations. For the most part, the parking requirements are between the hours of 8 a.m to 6 p.m. There are also a few “no overnight” parking locations.
A Downtown Committee was formed this summer and has been reviewing priorities for the downtown and developing short-term, mid-term and long-term goals. Throughout the conversations, a number of parking issues have been raised. As a result, the group recently established a parking sub-committee to focus on all of the issues surrounding parking in the downtown, according to Nancy Ketch, Houlton’s community development director.
“This new sub-committee has only met once, but the group is already looking at issues such as timed parking, the possibility of some shorter-term parking spaces, the number and location of handicap spaces, enforcement of the parking limits, calculating the value of a parking space, encouraging workers in the downtown to use longer-term parking rather than prime on-street spaces, expanding the areas of long-term parking options and educating the public on where the longer-term parking areas are,” she said.
“The group is also working on putting together a parking study that will evaluate the usage of the spaces to determine peak times and areas. This will help determine if timed areas could or should be changed, if some shorter-term limit spaces should be added and where, if additional long-term areas could be provided and the best places for the handicap spots.
“The ultimate goal is to ensure adequate parking during the day for shoppers and those doing business in the downtown to have access to the best spots while encouraging those working in the downtown to park in the longer-term areas,” Ketch continued. “They will also be looking at overnight parking for downtown residents to make sure there are adequate spaces for them, especially in the winter.”
Parking has not been enforced for some time, but not because police did not want to do the job.
“When I first got here, the biggest problem was we didn’t have any parking tickets,” Houlton Police Chief Joe McKenna said. “Nobody ever ordered them. When I went to the company the town previously ordered from, I learned they were out of business.”
So the town had to create new parking tickets and had them printed locally. It took about three months to get the tickets approved and printed, McKenna said.
“The downtown business owners are complaining because people are parking all day in front of their business, because they work downtown,” he said. “That means customers cannot get into their stores.”
McKenna said even some of the storeowners themselves are guilty of parking in front of other businesses instead of their own.
Tenants who live in apartments above Main Street are a smaller percentage of the problem, the chief said. McKenna added he has suggested to the town’s ordinance committee that Houlton explore the idea of parking permits for tenants.
“It’s not quite as bad with the tenants,” he said. “I have met with some of the landlords and informed them that the lot on Mechanic Street is the designated overnight parking lot.”
In the summer, the chief said parking violations are not as critical as they are in the winter, when the town’s public works crew needs to clear snow from the streets.
During the winter months, McKenna said it was not uncommon to find vehicles in the Mechanic Street lot that have been left for long periods of time, making it difficult to remove snow. By issuing parking permits, the police would have a way of notifying the vehicle’s owner so it could be moved. There is also a municipal lot located behind the Houlton Pioneer Times newspaper office.
McKenna admitted there was a need for additional signage so motorists were better aware of the parking restrictions, as well as where the municipal lot is located.
Currently, there is 2-hour parking in Market Square and on Main Street from Court and Water streets to Broadway and Powers Avenue; on Court Street from Market Square to the Houlton Pioneer Times office on the west and from Main Street to the Courthouse on the east; Kendall Street; Mechanic Street; Broadway; Water Street from Main Street to Bowers Funeral Home on the west and from Main Street to just before the Town Office on the west; and Bangor Street from Union Square to Military Street.
Longer-term parking is currently available on Main Street above Broadway and Powers Avenue as well as in the two town-owned lots off Water Street and between Court and Kendall streets.
The fees for parking violations have also gone up over the past year and now start at $10, as opposed to $5 a year ago. That fee includes those in the overtime zone, 15-minute spaces, and those found to have parked improperly.
Those found illegally parked in a curb loading or commercial loading zone, as well as those in prohibited parking zones or parked unlawfully are subject to a $25 fine. Parking next to a fire hydrant also carries a $25 fee.
Motorists violating the “no all night parking” zones are subject to a $30 fine and those illegally parked in spaces reserved for handicapped persons are subject to a $75 fine, according to the town’s ordinance. Tickets can also be compounded, meaning a person who receives a ticket and does not move their vehicle can be subject to additional tickets every hour they are in violation.
Since the department started increasing its patrols for parking violators, Chief McKenna said the department has issued an average of 10 tickets in a week. Those coming into the station to pay the fine have not complained about the tickets, he added.
“I know there is one business that wasn’t happy that their employees received tickets,” the chief said. “We are not going to treat anybody any differently. If we are going to do this, we have to be fair to everybody.”
