“Parking in Montclair” to many, resonates like an oxymoron. Daytime, you’re hunting down a spot armed with a roll of quarters. Overnight, parking is verboten. But according to town manager Joe Hartnett, the overnight parking ordinance is a policy none of the past three councils have wanted police to enforce. “It’s a dysfunctional system, and no one wants a true overnight parking ban,” says Hartnett.
If you need to park overnight and don’t have use of a driveway, you can take your chances of getting towed, or call MPD with your license plate number, hoping for a special dispensation.
Last month, there were about 3,700 calls to MPD from people wanting permission to park overnight. Councilor Nick Lewis has been working with the parking advisory committee, hoping to hatch a plan that would make the whole process easier on everyone. But hold on, it’s gonna cost you…
Still on the drawing board, Lewis says they are thinking of selling permits, scratch-off tags that would be visible hanging in the windshield. “The hangtags would allow you to park anywhere in town that is legal during the day, or in any of the municipal decks – they’d cost about $5 each, maybe less if bought in volume.”
There’s a second option for the parking-deprived residents of the third and fourth wards, says Lewis. “We’d have a limited number of permits issued by street each quarter. It’s needed in the multi-family and apartment zones, where people tend to park anyway. This would make it a lot easier for people to find parking. The permits would be 30-50% cheaper than regular permits, in the range of $150-$180.”
Lewis stated the whole process will take some fine tuning with the police and fire departments and parking authority to work out exactly how many parking spots are in question, which streets are wide enough, how to educate residents, and enforcement. “It will require a lot of new signage,” he says, “we may be ready to get this going in July.”
Of course:
A. NEW. FEE.
Now why didn’t I think of that?
(But perhaps we can make the rich folks in “Upper” Montclair pay for it…..)
How bout using all those big lawns on the estates for off street parking and running shuttle busses around town.
“Last month, there were about 3,700 calls to MPD from people wanting permission to park overnight.”
Oh yeah, you have to ask. They can say no. And then you can appeal the decision… by email!
Sure Mojo, that’s the American way, I worked for my big lawn so other folks can park on it.
And you’ll probably want me to pay for the Shuttle bus too.
For $180 a month I’ll let someone park in my driveway. Just leave me the keys and make sure that there is always a full tank of gas.
That certainly is a lot of calls. Why not legalize overnight parking and be done with it?
A-MEN!!!
I am happy to pay for a cheaper permit to park on the street. Other towns charge for street parking, so no surprises there.
If the councilor is reading this, please also consider:
1. If this is scheduled to happen in July, have a plan for people who are going to ask about pro-rating the more expensive tags they paid for in March.
2. How about cheaper daytime street parking for the apt zones? Most of the buildings don’t have lots and many of us take the train or bus to work, with nowhere to leave the car during the day. I completely understand that the town does not want nonresidents doing just that; but again, in other towns you can get a daytime permit for street parking with proof of residence.
“Lewis says they are thinking of selling permits, scratch-off tags that would be visible hanging in the windshield.”
Scratch-offs? Just a dollar and a dream!
Leave the ban but keep still allow people to call in for exceptions. It’s a waste of time and effort that they are even discussing this.
Not for nothing a shuttle bus is not such a bad idea on the weekends. Parking is impossible on Friday and Saturday nights. I’d gladly leave my car at home if I could catch a shuttle to dinner, the movies or a show at the Wellmont.
Montclair should adopt a policy like they have in Hoboken. Residents can purchase an annual street parking permit for $15-20. It’s an RFID-tagged window sticker and the meter maids just wave a handheld unit over it which tells them if it’s valid. The tag allows for information to be updated in a database, so if you change your plate number, address, or let it expire, etc, it’s always current in the system.
Does it make any sense at all that it is less expensive to park in front of your own home than to park eight blocks away in a lot??
Why do we pay extra to park in a lot that is rarely plowed in snowstorms?
I will exchange my lot permit for a street permit and get cash back!!
My guess is that the mayor simply wants everyone to sell their cars and replace them with bicycles. Of course, this can’t be obtained until a few more bike lanes are in place and more gubmint mandated bike racks are installed.
The parking rules in this town are a joke. I can never find a space in front of my apartment building and have noticed over the course of the last week of staying home the same vehicles in the same spots on the street for days without so much as a single ticket (and no, they don’t have the above mentioned street tags).
Forget about changing/enforcing the overnight parking rules. How about ticketing the Jeep that’s been siting right next to the “2 Hour Limit” sign since Monday??
Generically, I hear you man. Same here. I live on a block next to the Walnut St station. The same dillweed who almost runs me over tearing down my street 10 seconds before the train pulls up parks on my block all day, every single day. Never gets a ticket. Same with the other cars parked directly under the 2 hour limit signs. But I, the homeowner, forget to pull my car into the driveway, and I can bank on a ticket on my windshield by 2:30 a.m. every time. Oh, including twice after I’ve called the police for permission.
well, you used to have to navigate around piles of leaves in Montclair, now you’ll have to squeeze past snow mounded cars in the winter…more fun!
Montclair building zoning could have taken a lesson from South Orange, Maplewood & Millburn. That being that they could not build a larger condo/apartment or multi-family beyond room that would allow 2 parking spaces per living quarters. Therefore no cars on the street, or very few and not overnight (between 11PM & 6AM.) Some even have individual garages, others underground. “Cheap seats” are on the rooftop
3,700 calls in one month?
How much did it cost to receive and record those?
crazy……
So, what I gather from selected posts here, is that Hoboken, Maplewood,South Orange and Millburn all actually have SMART people managing their departments.
The meter maids are too busy ticketing in the 2-hour time zones near Starbucks/Whole Foods & the library. I see them there all the time.
Why not legalize overnight parking and be done with it?
Because this ain’t Queens! The only limit on the illegal 4 family houses near me is that there’s not enough parking. If the town legalizes overnight parking, they should offset it with genuine enforcement of zoning.
This is Queens and Brooklyn, West.
Allowing parking on the streets during the day, but not at night, is silly, especially in this day and age — the fact is that many households now have several cars.
Why should the town (be allowed to) charge money for parking on the streets overnight?
Residents should be issued resident stickers or tags, and a nominal fee.
“Why should the town (be allowed to) charge money for parking on the streets overnight?”
Is that a real question?
Because they are THE MAN and can tax or create fees as they like.
Water, sewage, house alarms, etc.
They do because they can.
But the overnight discourages multiple cars unless you have a space. I’d rather not live in a town with all sorts of cars parked on the street overnight.
i am with appletony. Legalizing overnight parking either free or with a permit will degrade the quality of life here.
Interesting observation here:
NO PARKING ON STREETS OVERNIGHT
Maplewood; South Orange; Millburn; Livingston; Glen Ridge; Verona; West Caldwell; North Caldwell; 75% of West Orange; Fairfield; Essex Fells; Roseland; Cedar Grove.
PARKING OKAY ON STREETS OVERNITE
Bloomfield, East Orange, Orange, Bellevile; Irvington; Newark.
Do not know about Nutley
WHICH WAY WILL MONTCLAIR ALIGN TO?
OOops – parts of East Orange you cannot park overnight on the public street. Different sections have different rules.
You can park overnight in many towns in Bergen County & it certainly doesn’t “degrade the quality of life.”
I suspect that the real issue is proximity to Newark.
What’s this? ROC is actually in favor of the government taking people’s money? Oh sweet Jesus, hallelujah!
How about cheaper parking permits for people who actually work in montclair and can’t just get up and leave every two hours to feed the meter (which is actually prohibited!) or find another parking spot? How many tickets have I gotten at the Maple parking lot because I have customers coming in and out and I can’t bear to tell them, “Everybody out! I have to appease the meter maid!”? Too many.
I thought there was overnight parking in Montclair, south of bloomfield ave, on suburb side the cars are on the streets all night until day break,,(church street south down towards gates etc,)
some suggestions for maximizing parking revenues:
1 – charge for parking in the lot behind 205 Claremont. Every Sunday morning, it’s packed. Who are these people? 2- hire more code enforcement personnel. I don’t think the slobs who park in handicapped spaces inappropriately do not get what they deserve. 3- same goes for parents with that classic Montclair sense of entitlement, who insist on double/triple parking in the Park St. deck, so they can pick up their kids from the Y.