(4/24) During the April 2 town meeting, the Board of Commissioners discussed a change in the town’s parking policy, which included fee increases.

Emmitsburg’s parking policy was set in 1999 and has not changed since then. The last fee changes were seen in 2004, when the parking meter rates saw an increase to $0.25 per hour. However, over the years, expenses have continued to grow, and the town felt it was time to make some changes to the parking policy and ordinance to account for these expenses.

The changes, as presented, included an increase in some of the parking related fees. The new policy has a $5 increase in the fee for overtime parking, from $5 to $10. Additional violations will be added to the parking policy, including left side parking, which is a $15 offense, snow emergency route parking, a $25 offense, and parking for 48 consecutive hours, which will be a $15 fine. This last change was increased from the prior 24 consecutive hour parking. Furthermore, the fee for a daily sign rental will be increased from $2 per day to $5 per day and those requests must now be submitted 24 hours in advance to the town office. The new policy also includes a six-month permit, which has had a $115 fine since 2004, but this permit never made it into the current policy. The three-month parking pass was increased from a $50 cost to $60.

In addition to the parking fee changes, the parking ordinances saw significant wording changes with many new definitions and sections added. Most warranted little discussion from the Board, but a section regarding parking near stop signs sparked a lengthy discussion. Part of this section reads, "No person shall park a vehicle…under the following conditions: …within twenty-five feet of a stop sign." Commissioner Joe Ritz noted that this policy could be unfairly and unnecessarily enforced in some low traffic residential areas.

According to Town Manager Cathy Willets, the policy is actually a state traffic law and is in place to protect the sight lines of vehicles approaching stop signs. Willets continued on to say that this is a safety issue, but Ritz questioned why the policy was just now being added to the parking ordinance. The concern would be for those who may have been parking in this manner for years, and have never been notified before because it was never addressed. The notion of "we never did it before, so why are we doing this now," may be brought up by many residents. Having these policies in the code gives the enforcement officer the right to enforce it, rebutted Willets.

The Board did not vote on the presented parking policy and ordinance during this meeting, but will address it at a future meeting with amendments and further information.