Paid parking plan squelched amid opposition

LACONIA — Plans to bring paid parking to the downtown area have been shelved indefinitely after people turned out for a City Council committee meeting to denounce the idea.

The council’s Government Operations and Ordinances Committee outlined a plan Monday evening which would have required people to pay $50 a month to park in spaces with greater than a two-hour limit.

Councilor David Bownes, the committee chairman, said Laconia was one of the few cities in the state that does not have some sort of paid parking. He said he was bringing the plan forward because the idea has been “languishing in the committee for too long.”

Bownes said he was not “vested in any particular outcome,” but acknowledged that he has supported the idea of paid parking for a long time.

But Bownes was the only one who supported the idea during the 45-minute meeting at which several people representing downtown interests spoke up to oppose the idea. The committee’s other two members, Councilors Bruce Cheney and Tony Felch, dismissed the idea, with Cheney calling it “premature.”

Opponents said the plan would drive business away from downtown and would be an unreasonable burden on those who work in businesses and offices downtown who would have to pay $600 a year to park.

“I have an employee who cannot afford $50 (for a one-month permit),” said Kim Terrio, vice president of Penny Pitou Travel. “Where are the employees supposed to park?”

Jason Ganong, who owns a downtown building, told the committee, “I hope the city doesn’t do something to stifle growth.”

Many pointed to the number of empty storefronts on Main Street as a clear sign that paid parking would make things more difficult for those businesses that are downtown.

“This will discourage the positive growth that is taking place,” Tara Shore, operations and program manager for the Belknap Mill, said.

She said the Mill could not afford to cover the cost of the parking permits for its employees, and pointed out that many people who work at the Mill are volunteers and it would be unfair to expect them to have to pay $600 a year in order to do volunteer work.

Bownes said some people who submitted written comments to the committee supported some form of paid parking, but he acknowledged the public response was overwhelmingly negative.

When the full council took up the matter later Monday, during its regular meeting, Bownes made a motion to take the paid parking proposal off the council’s agenda. The motion passed unanimously.

Mark Condodemetraky, who owns a downtown business block, said the proposal was ill-timed and that if there is going to be any paid parking downtown in the future it should be part of a broad-based plan for the area.

“Let the people know you’re not moving ahead with this, so there is no anxiety,” he said.