The Sanford Fire Department is making parking spaces on either side of the former Notre Dame School building available during snow emergency parking bans.
Photo: Sanford Fire Department.
By Zendelle Bouchard
The City of Sanford was lenient with many who ignored or were unaware of the winter storm parking ban this week, but City Manager Steve Buck warned that in future storms, residents who park their vehicles on-street when a snow emergency has been declared will be ticketed and/or towed.
The snow emergency went into effect at 6 am Tuesday morning, but residents were given almost a full day’s heads up, with the decision issued by the Public Works Department mid-morning on Monday and posted on the city’s website and Facebook pages by noon. Radio and tv stations were notified as well.
Despite all that, Buck reported that as of 8 am on Tuesday there were still 83 vehicles parked illegally. “Public Works was pretty discouraged by the people’s lack of response,” he said, adding that some residents tried moving their cars to different, but still not legal, locations.
PWD Director Matt Hill said that ultimately 99 vehicles were found to be in violation of the ban. “The city is meeting internally on how we can both better broadcast the parking ban notice as well as enforce penalties on violations. The department remains concerned that the resulting lack of adequate plow response jeopardizes access by emergency services,” he said.
According to Major Mark Dyer of the Sanford Police Department, 21 $50 parking tickets were issued for this storm.
Buck told the council that patrol officers were putting warnings on vehicles and flyers with a QR code to sign up for e-notifications as they were able between their other calls. “The first snowstorm is kind of a learning storm; there are no excuses after that,” Buck added.
The city has two municipal lots available for residents who have no off-street parking of their own, on Heritage Drive and at Benton Playground off Roberts Street. Vehicles must be moved within two hours after the parking ban is lifted. For residents of Springvale, the Fire Department is making space available on either side of the former Notre Dame School building on Payne Street. They ask that residents park in these spaces (marked in yellow in the photo) only, so they can plow the lot and driveways around the building.
It’s easy to know when a parking ban has been issued. You can sign up on the city’s website for email and text alerts so you never get caught unaware. Visit https://www.sanfordmaine.org/e-notify/ to sign up.
The post No More Mr. Nice Guy: City Will Enforce Winter Parking Bans appeared first on Sanford Springvale News.
