City Council

City of Salem, Massachuse s “Know Your Rights Under the Open Mee ng Law, M.G.L. c. 30A ss. 18-25 and City Ordinance Sec ons 2-2028 through 2-2033.” The City Council Commi ee on Ordinances, Licenses and Legal A airs. met in the Council Chamber on May 30, 2024 at 6:03pm for the purpose of discussing the ma ers(s) listed below. No ce of this mee ng was posted on May 23, 2024 at 2:21pm. (This mee ng is being recorded) ATTENDANCE All OLLA Commi ee members present plus COW members Merkle, Sto , Jerzylo & Varela. From the City Dave Kucharsky, from soon to be renamed Dept of Transporta on, Lt. Tucker from the Salem Police Dept and Beth Rennard, City Solicitor. Also Anna Friedman joining remotely from the Finance Dept. ABSENT WERE: None SUBJECT(S): Amend an Ordinance to Tra c Ch. 42, Sec. 75 Resident S cker Parking and updated resident parking fees and changes to the ordinance for Zones in the city. Also, amend an Ordinance to Tra c Ch. 42, Sec. 75a temporary October Resident S cker Parking. Discussion: Morsillo - First we will talk about the new zones that we are proposing then the new parking fees & changes to the ordinances for those two things. A er that we will discuss the October resident parking. In 2020 & 2021, we changed some things regarding this and discussed purchasing plate readers. Dave Kucharsky - Director of the Transporta on Dept. reviews the slides with the proposed new zones. Resident Permit Parking Evalua on - when the current parking zones were set up they were based on the Ward boundaries at the me. Since then the Ward have been re-districted and the boundaries have been changed. The proposed changes are based on the geographic areas and intui ve boundaries as well as removing certain streets. Total Passes: 5,017; Total Visitor Passes 2,683; Total Eligible Street 148; Total Eligible Units 3,669; Total Units Purchased 1,868; Percentage of Units Purchased 51%; Average Passes Per Unit 2.7. New Zones - Zone A - Derby Street Neighborhood; Zone B - Willows Neighborhood; Zone C - Federal St Neighborhood - only a por on of prior zone - split in 2 and part of it is becoming a new Zone G (Common Streets); Zone D - part of Wards 2 & 3 - Essex St as northern boundary (but not Essex St itself), Jackson St southern boundary, Margin/Je erson eastern boundary; Zone E - Ward 5 - split into 2 zones SSU remains Zone E and remainder combined with Point Neighborhood to become Zone F; Zone H - catch all includes Wilfred Terrace, Cleveland St., Heritage St, & Foster St. 20 Streets will be removed along with 14 addi onal streets that are being proposed to be removed as well. Streets requested to not be removed are Franklin, Jackson & Wilfred Terrace that are currently on the list. Merkle - Zone A is oversold at 64% - Are there enough parking spaces for the permits that are sold? Kucharsky - I made an example of Bentley St that has more permits sold than spaces on the street but the permit is for the zone and not for the streets there is enough parking in the zone but may not be enough on each street. The city is trying to bring relief to Derby St. because there isn’t a lot of o street parking so hopefully spli ng it up with help. ti ff ffi tti ti tt ti ff ti ff ti ti ti ti ffi tt ft tt tt ti tt ti ti ti ti ti  Cohen - in favor of this change - if you live in a house, you should be able to see your car - some people have to park 5 streets away. 2 ques ons - if someone lives on a street without resident parking but adjacent, like Lafaye e St, will residents on those streets be able to request resident parking? Kucharsky - Large buildings with mul ple units would need to be discussed - they would work with the Ward councilor to see and look at it on case by case basis. Cohen - My 2nd ques on is more rhetorical - the only ones that can secure resident parking or visitor passes are people that reside on or are connected to the property in the zone, so if someone lives on Savoy they won’t have Salem State University (SSU) students parking on the street unless they have a parking pass, correct? Kucharsky - SSU students can purchase a parking pass if they reside within the zone. Watson-Felt - When was data collected? Kucharsky - Last year - we were looking at the last couple of years & the number of cita ons. Watson-Felt - With increased enforcement, are more passes being purchased? Kucharsky - Are you asking if more people that are eligible are buying into the program? It varies. Some mes if a cket is issued, they will rescind the cket if a pass is purchased. They are trying to improve the signage over the last couple of years - ex. Federal St & Derby St. We are working with DPS to get those ordered. Watson-Felt - Can you go back to the Zone C slide? I need clari ca on. Kucharsky - It used to be almost all of Ward 2 but we are spli ng it up. Watson-Felt - I’m in favor but I don’t think the changes to Zone C will help - 57% sold, but why does it seem more congested than the numbers suggest? Kucharsky - part of Essex St. allows for 2 hour non-resident parking. All of Federal St. is resident permit parking. We have done enforcement out there, new signs. Morsillo - When you say that it feels more congested, do you mean from complaints or what do you mean by that? Watson-Felt - Complaints, requests and my own personal experience. Varela - I approve the removal of Wilfred Terrace in Ward 7. Watson-Felt - Do you consider Zone C oversold at 65%? Kucharsky - When I said it was oversold, I meant that certain streets are oversold because some streets have less o street parking than others. Jerzylo - Will the new signs say what zone it is? Will they all need to be changed? Kucharsky - If approved, they would need new signs. Sto - In Ward 6, I would like to keep Foster St. & remove Franklin St. I also request the Friend St. & Oak St. get added back in. Is every street in the city in a zone? Kucharsky - no, they are not but nothing is set in stone. Watson-Felt - I’m okay with removing Thorndike & Waite but would like to watch them given the businesses around there. Morsillo - remove Franklin St., add back Friend St. & Oak St., and remove Wilfred Terrace. Cohen makes a mo on to amend remove Franklin St., add back Friend St. & Oak St., and remove Wilfred Terrace. Watson-Felt seconds. Mo on carries 5-0 and the streets will be added back in as Zone H. Kucharsky - moving on to proposed permit zone fees. We looked at what other communi es are charging and how much we are bringing in for permits. Kucharsky reviews the current pricing and the proposed increases along with Passport Fees to register online. He reviews the other communi es that they evaluated - Cambridge, Lynn, Chelsea, Boston, Somerville, Evere . Some are more expensive some don’t have fees at all. tt ff ti ti tt ti ti ti fi tti ti ti ti ti ti ti ti tt  Morsillo - How is this going to work since it won’t be s cker based? Kucharsky - the goal is to get the residents to register online using the Passport Portal. Scan license, registra on & proof of residency. The visitor passes will be up to 46 packets and when ac vated, they will each be good for 7 consecu ve days. When registered online, the resident will get email no ca ons for things like renewal requirements. You can use it on your phone or other device. Cohen - The current enforcement are calls and a regular route, correct? Lt. Tucker - Currently only taking calls a er regular enforcement hours. They are s ll working on the logis cs. Cohen - Landlord (LL) permits are for absentee LL (non-resident) so he thinks it should be more expensive than $50 and wants to know the ra onale. He knows that some LL won’t let their tenants park in the driveway so it is always available for the LL. Harvey - what about visi ng nurses (temporary workers) outside of October? It isn’t always the same person from day to day so the portal won’t work if it is based on the registra on. Kucharsky - if the caregiver is cketed and the resident can prove what they were there for, then the city can rescind the cket. Discussion among several - this will be an issue that will need to be addressed. You can’t expect the resident to request the cket to be rescinded and the caregiver should not have to do it either. It should also extend to construc on workers or others working in the home on a temporary basis. Watson-Felt - would like to limit the number of passes per household. And what is the di erence between a part- me resident and a full me resident? Kucharsky - de nes p/t as someone that owns the property but doesn’t live in Salem full me and their car is registered outside MA. Watson-Felt - how is the license plate reader going to work in October if there aren’t any o cers assigned and there are o cers working in the city from other communi es? Lt. Tucker - There won't be enough equipment to allow outside o cers to check the permits so the Salem o cer will have to check and then the state o cer will stay with the car for the tow. Checking the plate with the new reader is quick and wai ng for the car to be towed is more me consuming. Currently cke ng is more labor intensive because the o cer has to look all over the car for the s cker but the new system will allow them to just scan the plate. Watson-Felt - does a visitor pass have to be for 7 consecu ve days? Kucharsky - once it is registered to a vehicle, it is only good for that vehicle. He is going to check with Passport to see if the number of days can be adjusted up or down. Watson-Felt - understands why a LL needs a pass but is hesitant to give an annual pass. And what about 15 minute parking for dropping o , etc.? Kucharsky - Regarding LL & other workers - they can look into se ng up a daily pass but it would be outside of the Passport program. As for dropping o , short stays, they will be able to register a car for that with a $0.20 fee. Watson-Felt - temporary workers issue needs to be addressed. Davis - voiced his support of Cohen & Harvey on temporary workers - I don’t think we should cket and then make them ght the cket to get it rescinded. Morsillo - I don’t want to give LL an excuse to not show up to a property because they don’t want to spend the money for the pass. The landlord issue and temporary worker (Home Health Aide) will be an issue that will need to be addressed - you can’t expect that the person ge ng the care is tech savvy to submit info and you can’t have a HHA, using up all of your visitor passes. There will be a backup op on to using the portal similar to the Skipper where they can call to register. Kucharsky said they will look into be er op on for temporary workers and LL. There are ways to expand the program if needed. ti ffi ti ti ti ti ffi ff ti ti ti ffi tti ti ti ti ti ti ti fi ti ti ft ti ti ff ffi ti ti ti tti fi ti ti ff ti tt ti ti ti fi ti ffi ti ffi  Regarding nances - Current cost is about $243k and with the Passport program and no increases in fees the cost is es mated at $275k which doesn’t include the cost of equipment and new signs. Current revenue is about $45k which is a $197k shor all. With the new program and no increased fees the shor all would be about $229k. With new fees the shor all would be reduced by about $100k. Harvey - thinks violators should be paying for this program and not the residents. Kucharsky - there is no guarantee on the amount of money that will be brought in by violators so that money is not treated as revenue. Discussion on the violator fees - they want to look into increasing the nes. When the nes were increased for October violators, it made a big di erence in available parking for residents. Regular ne is $15 and October is $75. People will just pay the $15 because it is cheaper than paying for parking. Public Comment Steve Kapan s - Wisteria St. - He is surprised the city did a study on how much the fees are in 6 other communi es but did not look at what the nes are. If you raise the nes from $15 to $30 then it will cover the shor all. He doesn’t think the city is keeping accurate records because he asked how much they are ge ng for nes and he was told its between $100k-120k. He wants the city to increase the nes and double the revenue and give the residents a break and not increase the cost of a resident parking permit. Phill La ee - 143 Fort Ave - He has several issues - there is a lack of transparency. He did a study of 16 communi es and Salem parking fees would be the highest of all of them with no guarantee of ge ng a parking spot. He has never seen anyone towed for illegal parking and enforcement is lack luster. He submi ed 22 ques ons to the commi ee in wri ng previously and is wai ng for a response to them and asked that they be put into the record. He has addi onal ques ons - He wants to know if the same visitor vehicle can use parking passes for 2 or 3 consecu ve 7 day stretch. Kucharsky said he would look into it. He also said that if the LL parking fees are increased, it is just going to cost the tenants more for rent because the LL will add it to the rent. He also has 2 FOA requests in and one is very overdue. Jus n Whi er - 10 River St. - He doesn’t think part me residents meet the eligibility requirements so those will need to be changed. He also thinks temporary workers should be able to go to city hall and get a placard that states they are a temporary worker parking in the city. He asked when the city approved the adop on of the license plate readers. The City Solicitor said that the plate readers were added to the budget and it doesn’t have to be approve separately by the city council because the budget that it was included in was approved. He thinks the violator nes should be increased instead of increasing the permit fees. Also suggested charging $5 for an October pass. Laurie Albury - Beach Ave - Agrees the burden shouldn't be placed on the residents. She thinks the focus should be on enforcement and the violator nes should be increased. Harvey - Mo on to keep this discussion in commi ee and seconded by Watson-Felt. Mo on passes 5-0. Morsillo - On to October resident parking (#184) Sec 75a. Kucharsky - Changes to the ordinance to remove the s cker requirement and change it to ge ng October resident parking permit from the online portal and request one (1) visitor pass from the portal as well for a cost of $30. Previously, visitor passes were free. Also can request a temporary worker permit for $2. The visitor pass is good for the full month of October. Watson-Felt is concerned having it good for the en re month will allow the resident to give it to their AirBnB guests. Kucharsky suggests limi ng it or se ng it up in packets like the regular visitor passes. Watson-Felt thinks this should be looked at more closely and the visitor passes should be limited during October in downtown. Discussion regarding the length of visitor passes and most state that they are okay with allowing visitor passes but they need to be limited with restric ons. Lt. Tucker stated that whatever they decide to do, it needs to be clear to the o cer enforcing because in October the police dept ckets & tows cars that are parked illegally and they can rescind the cket but not the tow charge. They need to look at Passport to see how this can be limited/restricted. Harvey - Mo on to keep in the commi ee, seconded by Watson-Felt - Mo on carries 5-0. ti ti tf ti tf ti ti ti tti tt tf ti ti fi fi ti fi tti ti ti fi fi tti ti ffi tt tf ti ti ti ti tt fi tt fi fi ff tti fi ti ti ti ti tti fi ff ti ti ti On the mo on of C.Harvey mo ons to adjourn and Watson-Felt seconds. Mo on to adjourns carries 5-0. the mee ng adjourned at 8:32 P.M. ________________________________________________________ (Chairperson) ti ti ti ti