Board OKs permits to crack down on parking abuses

A permit will soon be needed to park overnight at Fredonia municipal lots.

The Village Board approved the permit requirement last month, which takes effect once signs are posted at the lots, to curb overstaying.

The requirement applies to the Fire Station and Village Hall lots and the Fillmore Street lot behind Jen’s Place.

The previous ordinance allowed parking for 24 hours in the lots, which Village Administrator Christophe Jenkins said was difficult to enforce and often violated.

“There’s been a lot of incidents of people abusing the system,” Jenkins said, such as people who left their cars in lots during snow emergencies or took up several spaces with trucks, trailers and boats.

Trustee Kurt Meyle Sr. said at a Nov. 7 Village Board meeting that he had talked to a homeless man who was sleeping overnight in one of the lots.

“He told me, ‘The sign says it’s a 24-hour lot.’ For him, that meant he could stay there forever,” Meyle said.

He said the man was friendly and left the lot. However, Meyle checked his record and saw the man had a history of drug offenses.

“We don’t need that kind of stuff here,” Meyle said, noting Milwaukee recently cleared its park and ride lots of campers.

“We can’t set a precedent of having homeless people sleeping in the lots,” he said.

Another benefit of parking permits is that they provide the marshal’s office with an easy way to contact people who park in the lots, Jenkins said.

The village will give temporary parking permits to bar owners for patrons who may be unfit to drive their car out of one of the lots after a night of drinking.

Some of the lots are near bars, Village Marshall Eric Leet said, and it is more important to keep intoxicated drivers off the road than enforce parking ordinances.

“If someone was safer walking or stumbling home, then they can call me the next day and I’ll void the ticket,” Leet said. “I don’t want drunk people driving because they think they can’t park overnight.”

Jenkins said the village has received a couple of inquiries but hasn’t issued any permits yet.

Leet said he sees six to 12 cars that regularly park in the lots and would be affected by the ordinance.

It costs $10 for a weekly permit and $25 for a monthly permit.