New Winter Parking Rules Will Be Monitored for Effectiveness

Town officials said on Wednesday they are ready to go with the town's new trial rules for the winter parking ban.

A complete description of the program issued by the town government is attached to this story and also posted on the Danvers town website.

"We have been working to prepare for the implementation of our new (trial) winter parking ban which will become effective on January 1, 2013," Town Manager Wayne Marquis said in a memo to several town officials this week in both the Department of Public Works, Police Department and other town offices.

The changes to the wintertime overnight parking rules in Danvers were approved by the Board of Selectmen on a trial basis through the end of the winter. The board unanimously backed the trial period in a vote earlier this month.

Previously, overnight parking for longer than an hour had been banned on any Danvers road or street between midnight and 6 a.m. Under the new trial period rules, cars will be allowed to parking overnight on the street unless a "snow emergency" is put in place when accumulating snow is forecasted.

"We will carefully monitor the effectiveness of the program and make such adjustments as we deem appropriate," Marquis wrote.

In the summary of the program, Marquis said that the intent of the trial period is to reduce the need for homeowners with limited parking to find off-street parking for the entire winter even when there is no snow on the road.

"The pilot program will continue until April 1 and the impact evaluated," the program description reads.

The leading way the town will notify residents about the parking ban will be a telephone call from the DPW using the Connect-CTY system to the landline of every Danvers resident.

In addition, residents and businesses on the Connect CTY section - on the bottom righthand side, of the town website.

Marquis said that town officials will also use newspapers, radio station 104.9, the town webpage, Danvers Cable TV, Facebook, Twitter and Nixle (run by the Police Department) to notify residents, Marquis said.

Additionally, two electronic message boards will be set up - one on the rightside of Route 62 (Maple Street) near Spring Street and the other at the intersection of Poplar and Conant streets near the Holten-Richmond School. Both signs will be designed to catch drivers coming from either direction toward Danvers Square.

Anyone who is parked overnight on a Danvers street durinbg the parking ban will face a $15 parking ticket, $125 for a town by a town-authoried tow company and a $35 per day storage charge. An additional charge could be charged if additional assistance is needed to tow the vehicle.

A second phone call will be made when the parking ban is lifted.