City Council

City of Salem, Massachusetts “Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A ss. 18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033.” The City Council Committee on Ordinances Licenses and Legal Affairs co-posted with the Committee of the Whole___________________________________________________________ ________________________ met in the Council Chamber on _Wednesday May 21, 2025 _____________ at ______6:00_______P.M. for the purpose of discussing the matters(s) listed below. Notice of this meeting was posted on __May 15, 2025__ at ___ 3:42 P.M._ (This meeting is being recorded) ATTENDANCE OLLA – Hapworth (chair), Cohen, Jerzylo, Morsillo, Varela (Zoom). COW – Stott, Watson-Felt, Davis, Prosniewski, Merkl. From the City Staff – Mayor Pangallo, Christina Hodges, Assistant Transportation Director. ABSENT WERE: COW –Harvey. SUBJECT(S) #101 Ordinance relative to Halloween Parking Overlay__________________________________________________ #103 An Act Relative to excise upon the transfer of parking spaces in the City of Salem Mayor Pangallo – We are proposing to allow Salem residents to sell parking during the month of October with a $2.00 surcharge per space, per day. This will help with the congestion in and around Salem, by having more parking while giving resident the opportunity to make some money and the city will have some added revenue that can cover costs like the blue bikes and the Skipper. Currently businesses can register parking spaces with the city, but residents are not supposed to sell parking. Morsillo – Does the excise also cover parking lots? Mayor Pangallo – The Home Rule Petition refers to all spaces that are sold during October, Residential and Commercial - even parking lots. Jerzylo – Does it include city lots? Mayor Pangallo – I will have to double check with the City Solicitor. Hapworth – Can you talk a little about enforcement? Mayor Pangallo – Whether this is a city ordinance or not, we will still need enforcement. If it is not allowed, we will have to ticket those that are selling spaces that are not allowed and if it is an ordinance, then we will have to enforce to make sure that the space is registered and ticket those that are not registered. If the residents can see who is registered and who isn’t then it would reduce the number of calls for violations. Stott – What was the conversation like with residents that will be directly affected by this ordinance? Mayor Pangallo – We did a joint public hearing, but we are not able to send a mailing out to all residents in Salem that could be affected by this ordinance. Stott – You could have reached out to the transportation commissioner or the Ward Councilor in those areas that will affect their constituents. Davis – Do you know how much revenue this would bring into the city? Mayor Pangallo – No, we do not because we don’t know how many would register spaces, how often they would register or how many spaces would be registered. We do know that under the existing parking overlay, there were 1,431 spaces requested. That is only the total number of spaces and a space per day. Merkl – I just have a clarification. The resident would decide how many spaces they want/have to rent out and on what days they plan to rent them out and that is what they register/pay for, correct? Mayor Pangallo- Yes. There is a $100 registration fee regardless of how many spaces/days you register. We are excluding resident parking streets from this ordinance because will disadvantage residents that don’t have off-street parking. Morsillo – During October, I have only seen those downtown, selling parking which this ordinance will not allow them to sell their parking. So, isn’t the enforcement going to be an issue, if we must enforce this in certain areas that it is allowed and also enforce the resident that aren’t allowed downtown? Mayor Pangallo – Yes, I agree. We will need more enforcement. In 2024, we had 73 calls regarding illegally selling parking spaces. Also, commercial lots downtown will be able to register parking spaces. We don’t want to allow this in resident parking restricted zones because there is a concern that residents that have off-street parking will park on the street and sell the parking in their driveway and then residents that don’t have off-street parking will have trouble finding parking. Stott – Not allowing the residents in resident parking restricted zones to be able to sell parking, isn’t going to solve the problem we have had in the past of people trying to sell their parking spaces. It won’t lessen enforcement. Residents in the restricted zone should be able to participate in selling parking spaces if those that aren’t in restricted zones are allowed to sell parking. Hapworth – Did you consider increasing the zone for commercial property and not include the residential properties? Or was it always the intention to include the residential properties? Mayor Pangallo – We have always intended to include residential properties but that is an option. It would significantly decrease the revenue if we only included commercial properties even if we increased the size of the zone. Hapworth – Having it include residential and commercial properties makes the enforcement a lot more difficult because if someone complains that their neighbor is selling parking, I don’t know off the top of my head whether that street is restricted or not. If it were all commercial properties in the city, I could support that because it is clear what properties are allowed and not. Cohen – I think extending this to all commercial properties in Salem is a great idea, but I am conflicted about including residential properties. I am concerned that the landlord for some multifamily rentals will not allow the tenants to park in the driveway because they are selling the spaces and they may have to park 5 or 6 streets away from their units. Mayor Pangallo – The proposed ordinance does state that a landlord cannot use designated tenant parking for October visitor parking overlay. Cohen – I think this is an enforcement issue. Some tenants aren’t going to want to complain about their landlord giving away their parking. Mayor Pangallo – That is one of the benefits of requiring registration. We will be able to see which properties are rentals and have only tenant parking. If they engage in that activity, it’s a zoning violation with a daily fine of $300. Stott – I agree with Cohen that tenants aren’t going to want to complain about the landlord, especially to the city and it would put them in a very precarious situation. Also, not allowing those that are downtown, the ones that are most burdened by the traffic in October is going to be a problem. I understand and appreciate what you are trying to do but telling those residents that are downtown that they can’t do this will be a problem. Mayor Pangallo – Those people will have access to parking downtown. Stott – They already have parking, so it is not a tradeoff if they are only losing their ability to generate revenue from selling the space that they do have. If I were a member of the committee, I would amend the order to only include commercial properties and keep it simple and within the 4 corners including any non-residential lot/parking. Morsillo – I will make a motion to amend the ordinance as stated. Seconded by Cohen. Morsillo – I think that the areas where you have had the violations will still try to sell their parking so you will still have the violations. I don’t think the ordinance without the amendment is solving the problem. I think we need more information in order to include resident parking spaces. I think this has potential and I am not saying it is a terrible idea, we just need more information and feedback from residents. Merkl – I don’t see the $2.00 per space, per day or the $100 registration fee in the ordinance. Mayor Pangallo – That is separate, and it is part of the Home Rule Petition that must go to the Legislature to get approved. That is the other issue that we are planning to discuss tonight. And we also added an inflationary adjustment to the HRP. Hapworth – Does the HRP need to be changed if we decide that this will only be commercial? Mayor Pangallo – No, it doesn’t specify residential or commercial. Morsillo- Could we have a list of all the permitted parking spots in the city on the website, that would be helpful. Mayor Pangallo – Yes, that is part of the plan to include that list on the website. Hapworth – On C. Morsillo motion for that amendment, is there any further discussion? Seeing none, let’s have a vote – 4-0 Motion carries. On the ordinance, do I have a motion? Cohen – Motion to refer to the whole council as amended with a positive recommendation. Seconded by Morsillo. Motion carries 4-0. Hapworth – Next, we will discuss the Home Rule Petition. Mayor Pangallo, can you briefly tell us what it says? Mayor Pangallo – It would authorize the city to assess an excise of $2 per space per day for any public parking on private property authorized by the design code. The rate is like what is being charged in Boston, Springfield and Worcester pursuant to the Convention Center Financing Act. The funds would be designated to our transportation enhancement fund to provide a more sustainable funding source for programs like our on-demand rideshare shuttle Salem Skipper and our Blue Bike share program. It also allows for a $0.25 increase annually. Jerzylo – What if someone registers 10 spaces but regularly rents out 20, how will you be enforcing that? Mayor Pangallo – We will be doing random audits. If there is a violation, they will be fined and they will no longer be able to rent out parking in the future. Cohen – Motion to refer to the full council with a positive recommendation. Seconded by Jerzylo. Motion carries 4-0. On the motion of C. Morsillo meeting adjourned at 6:48P.M. ________________________________________________________ (Chairperson)