Bangor will try a new downtown parking strategy when plow crews need to clear snow this winter.
The city will allow overnight and daytime on-street parking all winter, just like what’s allowed during the rest of the year. When plow crews need to clear snow, however, the city could issue two types of parking bans, according to Aaron Huotari, Bangor’s public works director.
During a city-wide parking ban, all residents would need to find off-street parking. When a Downtown Parking District parking ban is announced, only vehicles in that district will be required to find off-street parking.
The city decided to try the one-year experiment after it changed another rule that could lead to more residents relying on on-street parking. Additionally, winter snow totals have declined in recent years due to climate change, meaning there’s often little need to have cars off the streets.
The city will notify residents when there’s a parking ban using the city’s alert system and social media, and crews will post temporary no-parking signs on affected streets.
When a city-wide parking ban is issued, various parking lots across Bangor would open to give drivers a safe place to keep their vehicles overnight for free. Those parking lots would include Cameron Stadium, a portion of the Cross Insurance Center, the Essex St. Dog Park, Gateway Park and Hayford Park, among other lots.
“I’m hoping that this allows us to provide services to the city while allowing residents to park on the streets and support more housing,” Huotari said. “It’s an expansion of summertime parking rules except for when there’s a parking ban.”
Bangor city councilors approved the one-winter trial during a committee meeting on Monday.
The city decided to try a new winter parking system after leaders altered a rule for how many off-street parking spaces a housing unit had to have, Huotari said. The change was the latest in a series of adjustments Bangor leaders have made with the goal of incentivizing developers to build more desperately needed housing in the city.
Now, developers don’t have to create as many off-street parking spaces for each housing unit they create. While this allows more housing to be built on small pieces of land, it could mean residents have to use on-street parking more.
Under Bangor’s previous winter parking rules, drivers were barred from parking overnight on city streets starting with the first parking ban of the season and lasting until March 31.
During the day, drivers had to park on either the odd or even sides of the streets depending on the corresponding day of the month. For example, if it was an even number date, such as Jan. 12, drivers could only park on the side of the road with even addresses.
The rules were created to give road crews plenty of space and time to clear snow from city streets, Huotari said. However, the rule wasn’t strictly enforced when there was little snow on the ground.
Additionally, crews haven’t needed to keep cars off the road every day in recent years as Bangor’s snow totals have dwindled over time, Huotari said.
“This will be a change for people, but I have a feeling it’ll be a welcome change,” Huotari said.
