Aliyya Swaby Photos
Upper State Street restaurateur Allison DeRenzi struck an informal agreement for her employees to use empty spots in a neighbor’s parking lot across the street. She wants the city to be just as creative in finding long-term solutions.
As city officials brainstorm ways to tackle the commercial district’s parking shortage, DeRenzi, who runs L’Orcio, is one of several local business owners joining the conversation.
“Most people are ready for change,” she said.
The city is considering lining Upper State Street — the seven blocks between Bradley and Lawrence Streets on State — with parking meters, to open up spaces on the often-packed commercial corridor and prevent people from leaving their cars there for months at a time.
Currently, drivers may leave their cars on Upper State Street for up to two hours at a time, except for a small residential patch around Eld Street. Several businesses and organizations have their own parking lots or contract parts of public lots along the street.
City transit chief Doug Hausladen met with Upper State business owners in mid-May to discuss ways to improve parking availability for neighbors as well as employees and patrons of businesses on and around that street. Ideally, Hausladen said, any revenue gathered from parking meters would be reinvested in street improvements for the commercial district. Right now, money from parking meters goes into the city’s general fund. (State Street does not currently have a business improvement district.)
The transit department doesn’t have enough staff to effectively manage the two-hour zone. “Staff is busy doing citywide enforcement and meter enforcement. It’s so much effort to time someone for two hours,” Hausladen said.
He promised to return to business owners in the next couple of months with a more concrete plan.
“If you make things free, people will find a way to never pay for them,” Hausladen said. Then “people are circling for 15 minutes to look for free parking,” which increases traffic congestion and pollution. Price control “is part of a well managed parking supply,” he said.
New Haven now has three tools for managing parking: time limits, parking meters and residential permits. Hausladen wants to create new types of parking permits that would diversify the use of the available spaces, such as linking 10 to 15 spaces on a specific street to a monthly employee permit.
Thomas Macmillan File Photo
Hausladen (pictured) said the plan is in its infant stages; he needs permission from the Board of Alders to amend a city ordinance, if he wants to change up parking zones or re-direct revenue from parking meters.
Business owners said in interviews that they are hesitant about the plan for more meters. They brainstormed other ways to increase the parking supply.
DeRenzi suggested the city serve as a liaison between individual organizations, negotiating agreements to fill available spaces in lots. She understands the city’s desire to monetize parking, but said there needs to be a “balance in a mixed-use neighborhood and tight-knit community.”
Many people are using the spaces incorrectly, she said. Neighbors who don’t want to buy a residential parking permit use free parking in front of businesses, taking away spaces from customers and employees. And customers who can’t find parking in front of businesses leave their cars in residential zones. “People trying to do the right thing are getting the raw end.”
At the May meeting between the city and businesses, many owners said they want to make sure the revenue returns the community, before agreeing to the meters, DeRenzi said.
East Rock Alder Jessica Holmes said she is “open to meters being a part of the solution,” but she wants more community input first. Neighbors have approached her with concerns that more customers will head to residential areas to park, if forced to pay for parking along State Street that was previously free.
She said that Upper State Street will look different in the next couple of years, once the State Street Bridge finally opens and once hundreds of people move into the State Street Lofts apartment building being constructed at the corner of State, Mechanic and Lawrence Streets.
“It’s an area in flux. There’s a lot of potential,” she said. “That’s why it’s important to get community input to imagine where we are currently and where we will be.”
Hausladen plans to attend June’s East Rock Management Team Meeting, in order to talk with those neighbors about his plans.
Some people interviewed by the Independent adamantly opposed the idea of meters.
“Absolutely not,” said Lenny Fritz, who owns The Pantry, when asked whether the city should consider installing them along Upper State. “It discourages people from coming here. People with cars want to go where they can park.”
The stalled State Street Bridge project has already killed several businesses, Fritz said. Meters would only starve the remaining businesses. He said he worries people charged to park on the street will then fill the parking spaces he owns in a lot next to his property.
But he said he is “not concerned” about whether the money would go back to State Street specifically.
Goran Lolic drives in from Branford to his job as Da Legna’s head waiter — and parks wherever he sees a free spot. Often, he overstays the two-hour free parking limit on State Street, or he sneaks into an empty driveway or lot, he said.
He said the city should not put in meters or hand out tickets to those who park for more than two hours. “Where are people going to park?” he said.
The city is working on creating parking spaces. In late May, the City Plan Commission approved a site plan that would allow the New Haven Parking Authority to put a 75-space parking lot on a now-empty piece of land at State and Trumbull Streets near the I‑91 North ramp. But there’s no more property for sale, Hausladen said.
Some businesses already share parking lots. Chestnut Fine Foods & Confections and the Pantry each own several spaces in a city-owned parking lot abutting their property. Their spaces are not marked as reserved, and there’s not a big demand for them, said Chestnut Fine Foods owner Fred Walker (pictured). Sometimes graduate students leave their cars parked there for months at a time, he said, which is a problem.
The city could meter the spaces in that lot, he suggested.
Of course, parking isn’t a problem for everyone. Tammy Greenlee and Wes Root (pictured), who work at Christopher Martin’s Restaurant & Pub, live close enough to walk to work every day. The restaurant has a small lot; often customers forced to park along the street get ticketed, if they stay past two hours.
Hausladen said he is encouraged by the fact that business owners have been willing to engage him in conversation. He said he understands neighbors’ skepticism about his ability to implement his ideas. “I would be skeptical too,” he said. “A lot of solutions are big and bold and need an ordinance. None of this is simple.”