Port police to crack down on beer garden street parking

Port Washington police are no longer allowing people to park along the road through Upper Lake Park during the beer gardens, Police Chief Kevin Hingiss told the Police and Fire Commission Monday.

“There’s no need to,” he said. “There’s plenty of parking up there. I’ve never seen it that full.”

The change in policy came because so many vehicles were parked along both sides of the road during a late August beer garden that it was difficult to get through the park, he said.

Fire Chief Mark Mitchell said he lodged the complaint that resulted in the change after driving through the park during a recent beer garden and finding numerous cars parked on both sides of the narrow road. The vehicles took up a significant part of the paved lane, he said.

“We’ve had ambulance calls (during the beer gardens),” Mitchell said. “I had our folks come up off Hales Trail.”

Commission Chairman Rick Nelson suggested that people be allowed to park on one side of the street.

“I’m sure there are other options,” he said, including allowing people to park downtown and providing them rides to the beer gardens. “We’ve got to give people someplace to park or some other options.

But Hingiss noted that when people park along the road, they often block the pedestrian lane around the park.

“People who are supposed to be walking in the walking path are instead walking on the road,” he said.

In addition, children heading to Possibility Playground may dart into the road, where drivers can’t see them, he said.

  None of the recent beer gardens have been as crowded as the one that prompted the change in policy, Hingiss said, adding that there is adequate room in the parking lots.

“I got it out to the officers that if you see them parking on the lawn, get them out of there,” he said.

  The Parks and Recreation Department stresses to people who rent sites that they can’t park along the road, Hingiss added.

The commission agreed to keep an eye on the situation, which Ald. Dan Benning, who attended the meeting, said the situation could be attributed to “growing pains” at the beer garden.

“If you think about it, it’s kind of a nice problem to have, to be so successful,” commission member Patty Ruth said. “People out there are so impressed by the beer garden. Other communities would love to have this problem.”