Did Beach Pass Parking Plan Help Cost Banisch Madison Election?

MADISON, CT - It certainly wasn’t Tom Banisch’s fault that temperatures approached 100 degrees this past July 4th.

But Banisch shouldered much of the responsibility for the town in the days and weeks after for the town being flooded with out of town cars that day as Madison struggled with the implementation of a new beach parking system.

As Republicans and Democrats sought explanations as to why Banisch was defeated by Democrat Peggy Lyons Tuesday night in a close race for first selectman (unofficially 3,317 to 3,013 votes) some looked back at the beach parking plan that Banisch spent much of the summer trying to explain to residents, many of whom were angry that the town was crowded with out of town cars on July 4th.

Many of those cars on that hot day wound up going to Madison town beaches as the state park was shut early.

There is no disagreement that the installation of the new beach parking system at town beaches this past summer to try and ensure adequate parking spaces for Madison residents and good traffic flow for those visiting had a series of problems during its first year.

The total dollars collected for 2018 was $176,000 and this year the total dollars collected were $151,000 - meaning less money was collected with the new system than the old.

The average is roughly $160,000 per season. With the $10,000 still outstanding the total collected for this past season would roughly be $161,000.

After the town experienced overflow crowds at town beaches during an unusually hot July 4th weekend, officials made changes to the already in place parking system fees to hit the wallets of out-of-towners more for flocking to Madison on beach days this summer.

Selectmen approved revising hours of parking at the Surf Club to 9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and to also move hours of enforcement to 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. at East Wharf Beach a rate at all Town beaches from $3/hr to $10/hr, to be replaced by a daily rate system when the computer software allows it; and, setting a daily minimum pass rate as part of the current Beach Pass System, at $50 per day Monday – Thursday and $75 per day Friday-Sunday and Holidays; to be implemented in accordance with the software requirements of the contractor.

While Banisch and others in charge of the parking system continually insisted the problems were relatively minor and quickly fixed - the question remains is this an issue that cost him on Tuesday night.