Selectmen Look to Sell More Parking Permits, Raise Voucher Price [Poll]

With wait lists for Darien's train station parking permits at well over a thousand people apiece, the Board of Selectmen took up the perennial question Monday of whether — and how — to ease the pressure on the system.

Citing the "50 to 60" empty permit spaces seen on a typical workday at Noroton Heights, selectman Jayme Stevenson proposed that the board increase the number of permit-holders.

As of Sept. 29, the wait lists stood at 1,382 people for the Darien Train Station and 1,339 for Noroton Heights, with wait times of well over six years possible. A permit currently costs $345 a year.

Selectman David Bayne said that while "opening up additional parking spaces is probably a good idea," the town should also consider converting some permit spaces at the Leroy-West lot to daily voucher spaces. 

Bayne said the move would "help alleviate an immediate problem" of the spots filling up early while permit spaces remain unused at the lot, citing emails he had received about the problem.

"I think that we all do want to loosen up some of those permits, so we can agree on that, but then we also want to enable to come and 'scratch and play,' so to speak," said Selectman Callie Sullivan.

Bayne also raised the possibility of giving wait list priority to those who give up their permit but reapply for one later.

"I think we might release a lot of annual permit holder who don't have immediate plans to go back to New York, who might be willing to release their permits if they knew they could get back to the top of the list," Bayne said.

But Town Administrator Karl Kilduff cautioned that such a program would be difficult to run with the technology and manpower currently devoted to managing the town's parking system.

"This is run by a part-timer who's doing a bunch of other tasks on top of that," Kilduff said.

"If that's what you want to do, you're more than welcome to do it," he added. "I'm just trying to tell you that from an administrative standpoint, it's going to be a very difficult program to administer."

Stevenson suggested that the town evaluate the success of its "incentive spaces" — discount permit spaces — as a possible area for more voucher parking.

"I like the notion of selling more permit spaces and encouraging people to get there early," Stevenson said.

Kilduff recommended that the board not set a hard number of new permits for the town to release, noting that the math can be complicated by people who are on wait lists at both stations but prefer one over the other.

"There is an art to this, and it's not just 'sell a specific block,'" Kilduff said.

"We already have 20 out there pending, so it's easy to sell another 20 to 40 block and see how that's absorbed," he added.

Selectmen also addressed the cost of daily vouchers, which at $3 apiece are cheaper than most other stations.

"In terms of daily rate, we are the absolute lowest, with the exception of those places that charge nothing," Kilduff said.

"Those other communities which charge more than us encourage people to come to Darien because we are cheaper," he added.

While the selectmen voiced support for raising the price of vouchers to $5 — consistent with nearby towns — First Selectman Dave Campbell said a public hearing should wait until the town can clarify issues relating to its lease of the Noroton Heights lots from the state.

Kilduff said a hearing would likely have to wait until Nov. 28, when a newly-elected board will be in power.

Clarification: Selectman David Bayne's statement regarding the possible conversion of permit spaces to voucher spaces pertained specifically to the Leroy-West parking lot.