Little Interest in Commercial Parking Alternative

With the recently approved for commercial vehicles in effect, the Harrison Town Board has approved an alternative parking option for people left without a place to park overnight.

The only problem? So far, no one seems interested.

Harrison Mayor/Supervisor Ron Belmont said this week only one person has signed up to park at the commuter parking lot near Calvert Street overnight. The spots are being offered for $150 per-month so that owners of commercial vehicles have a place to park from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. every night.

The commercial parking ban, approved in January, bars any commercial vehicle from parking between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. on a residential street. Harrison's laws already ban commercial parking in driveways, leaving some vehicle owners searching for a new place to park.

Although several people voiced complaints at public meetings following the law's passage, Belmont said there has been little interest in the new alternative.

"A dozen plus people have said they needed parking spaces, I've called every one of them and so far we've had one taker on it—that's it," Belmont said at Thursday's board meeting.

Somewhat controversial during original discussions, the new parking policy was approved in early January after homeowners in residentially zoned neighborhoods in Harrison and West Harrison complained about a lack of parking and other aesthetic issues caused by the vehicles. Harrison Police Chief Anthony Marraccini was instrumental in getting the law passed in an effort to resolve some of those issues.

Although Belmont said the board isn't considering a change to the new law, he said the parking alternatives are being offered so that people who own commercial vehicles have another option.

"We're just trying to accommodate people when they have a situation or a problem," said Belmont. "We're just trying to help people, that's what we are there for is to help people."

Besides the $150 per-month expense to park in the commuter lot, the parking alternative does create some obstacles for any possible takers. Vehicles left in the lot after 7 a.m. would be towed from the lot and several residents questioned how people are supposed to get to their vehicles since they would have no place to park a second vehicle during the day.

"I don't think it's a solution," Robert Porto said to the board this week. "I mean how are people going to get their vehicles?"

But Belmont said he hasn't been hearing complaints about the issue since it went to effect March 1, and that people have likely made their own accommodations to any parking dilemmas the new law has caused.

"We're trying to help people out with an option," he said. "That's what it's all about."