Council hopes to solve residential parking woes

By: Linda Seida – Staff Writer
LAMBERTVILLE – Exercise is good for many of us, but few want to get it by walking five blocks from a parked car to his/her residence.
In other words, finding a convenient parking space in a city where many people maintain their own vehicles can be a pain.
The City Council is trying to alleviate some of the hurt by looking at a number of ways to improve residential parking. People want to be able to park closer to their houses, but often it is not possible. That’s why the solutions are going to have to be a bit creative.
One possible solution would enable property owners to park on street in front of their own driveways. "Through an ordinance, you can permit a property owner to park and block their own driveway. That would create a few on-street spaces," Police Director Bruce Cocuzza said.
Still, the problem of too few spaces won’t disappear by ordinance. Not when the city has a lot of vehicles, and some residents have more than one. Parents might each have a car, with another for a teen driver or an older relative. "Especially if you live in an urban environment, you should have fewer cars," Director Cocuzza said.
One of the problems in Lambertville is the noticeable number of vehicles – with out-of-state registration, particularly Pennsylvania plates – parking long term or overnight, Acting Clerk Cynthia Ege said. Some of these might be attributable to drivers who register their vehicles in Pennsylvania because of lower insurance rates or an easier registration process, but that is speculation, she said. Lambertville currently offers $45 parking permits for drivers, who reside on a street that has no available off-street parking, have a meter in front of their residences and have no driveway. About half a dozen streets are eligible. Other permits are available for a reserved spot in a city lot.
Short of reducing the number of vehicles, other solutions are being sought. Among the remedies officials are looking at are those in use in Hoboken, Ms. Ege said.
However, "it’s a pretty involved process" that is used there, Director Cocuzza said. Hoboken has a much larger population then Lambertville. Hoboken has a population of about 40,000 in an area of about 2 square miles. Lambertville has a population of nearly 4,000 in an area of 1.1 square miles.
Among the regulations in Hoboken, residents need residential parking permits that are valid for one year. They also must verify that they either own the vehicles or are the primary users. They also must verify residency.
One side of non-metered Hoboken streets is reserved for holders of residential parking permits. Exceptions are made for street-cleaning days and periods of temporary, emergency restrictions. Because the number of cars exceeds the number of spaces, permit holders are not guaranteed a space.