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 _May 14, 2026__________ at ______6:00______P.M. for the purpose of discussing the matters(s) listed below. Notice of this meeting was posted on ___ May 7, 2026__ at ___ 6:50 P.M._________________ (This meeting is being recorded) ATTENDANCE OLLA – Varela (Chair), Hapworth, Holappa & Smith. COW – Sydoriak, Merkl, Turowski and King. From the city – David Kucharsky, Director of Transportation and Lieutenant Dave Tucker. ABSENT WERE: OLLA – Prosniewski. COW – Davis and Flynn. #222 _Ordinance relative to Traffic relative to buses____________________________________________________________ #223_Tour Buses Parking Permit Fees________________________________________________________________________ Varela – Tonight, we will be discussing fees and fines for tour buses. This is for adoption of second passage. I would like Director Kucharsky to talk about the justification for the fees and fines that he is proposing. Kucharsky – About a year ago, the mayor approached us to investigate the feasibility for charging the tour buses for parking. We conducted some case studies of other communities with similar tourism activity. The focus was on fees charged, what their fines are and what type of infrastructure they provided, such as the actual parking for buses, as well as the permit program that they had rolled out. We reached out to Destination Salem, the Witch House and the House of Seven Gables. Although we create the bus stops in the city, we didn’t have a good sense of the volume or the frequency these stops were being used throughout the year. We were also able to reach out to some of the tour bus companies to get an idea of what it is like to get a permit for other towns. We also looked into working with our current Passport Parking system to see if that would be the best way to move forward. We looked at several communities, but Cape May, NJ, Savannah, GA and Kennebunk, ME were communities that we spoke with regarding their systems. Cape May has had their system in place for about 20 years. They do a tiered system, where the permits price depends on the time of year. They have a visitor center with 6 tour bus spaces. We asked them about the challenges they have faced which was mainly dealing with new operators or those not familiar with the permitting system. Savannah has been running their permit program for more than 20 years and they charge for other things besides parking, but we focused our investigation only on parking. They have a visitor’s center that has 18 parking spaces, and their main challenge is overtime enforcement. Kennebunk has just started their program. They charge $25 for each pickup and $25 for each drop-off. They don’t have a visitor center and since their program is new, they are still working through the whole system. We spoke with 5 tours companies. There was some push back from a couple companies, but others said that they are seeing this with other communities, so they weren’t surprised. The concern was the timeline of when we will be requiring the permit fees, because they are booking these trips now and any additional costs, they would typically charge the consumer. Next, we looked at what parking we have available in Salem. At peak in October, we have about 63 spaces. Those spaces include 10-minute pickup/drop-off only, 1 hour, 2 hour and long-term parking. 25 of those spots are downtown. We estimated a revenue of about $44,000 that we would bring in if those spaces were metered. Based on what we are seeing from other communities, we think that $50 per day permit fee with a $300 fine, would be reasonable. We expect to be giving out a lot of warnings at first. We don’t want to hurt the bus companies, so we want to work with them to get them to understand what we are doing. We would be amending the ordinance including the definition section, particularly what is a tour bus, motor coach, etc. We updated the fines. In the existing section 52, we utilized to put in the proposed permit recommendation. If there is an agreement with the council, then the next step would be to create the permit zone and develop a step-by-step guide like the resident permit program that we could communicate out to the bus companies. We have started to develop and maintain a contact database of bus operators. We want to continue to work with Destination Salem and other local tourism companies to help get the word out. We propose getting about 33 signs for the designated parking locations that will allow the bus to get a permit if they haven’t already as well as signs with a QR code that you can look up all the bus parking locations. The last items are continuing enforcement and communication working with the Transportation Department, parking enforcement and the police. Holappa – School buses and MBTA buses are excluded from the fee, correct? Kucharsky – Yes, they are excluded. Holappa – You said there are 25 spaces downtown but 63 total but only 33 signs. Where would the signs go in relation to the spaces? Do you know what the utilization is on these spaces? Kucharsky – There isn’t a sign per space since some of the spaces are next to each other. We haven’t been monitoring the space, but we plan to do that more going forward. We have been told that they are and we did have enforcement check on the spaces at times but not on a consistent basis, which we plan to start. Holappa – How do the bus companies know where the spaces are? Kucharsky – Destination Salem has produced a map that we provided input on, and it is distributed. We rely a lot on the tourism business and the Witch Museum to help get the word out. If there are any changes, we try to get the word out as quickly as possible especially for the busy season. Some of the 10-minute spaces have been an issue with buses trying to stay longer. Holappa – How will the daily charge work with the buses that are doing multiple drop offs and the varying times at different spaces? Kucharsky – We think that having a daily fee will simplify things, so they pay the daily fee whether they are going to a 10 minute drop off only or long-term parking. There are some limitations in the Passport app that makes one fee easier so the bus can move to different spaces throughout the day for one fee. Holappa – How did you come up with the $50 fee and why do you think that is the appropriate amount? And why aren’t we considering doing a calendar based, tiered permit system like Cape May? Kucharsky – We looked at the other communities that have this program as well as the fact that this is new to Salem. We had about 804 groups last year and that would bring in about $40,000 in revenue. We could always revisit that amount or change it in the future, but we think that this is a good starting point. As far as the tiered system, this is relatively new technology, and we wanted to start out with something that was simple. Holappa – I think that $50 per day is low for the Halloween season. If we were to decide to increase that fee, is that doable? Kucharsky – The fee is not going on the sign, so if it was the will of the body to charge a higher fee, we could increase it on the Passport app just like we have done for the metered spaces downtown. We will send parking enforcement to check more on utilization to be better able to monitor the use. Holappa – If the ordinance is sent to the full council and it passes, when do you think the signs will be up and when would this be implemented? Kucharsky – End of June or early July to get the signs made and installed. King – I am not a member of the committee so I can’t make a motion for amendments, but I am going to suggest a couple amendments be made. First, I think that the fines are too low. I think they are fine to be $50 most of the year, but they should be $150 for the Halloween season (either 9/15-11/1 or 10/1-10/31) to match Provincetown. The fines should be changed for that time period to $300 for parked buses and $200 for buses with the engines running, so the fine is higher than the $150 fee. My other suggestion would be to make it free for school buses or non-profit organizations. Turowski – We might want to include trolleys, like the ones in Boston, in case those are ever in Salem. I think that once we get this up and running, we should look into having a designated parking area where we could have restrooms, food trucks and law enforcement but we must start somewhere and this is a good start. As far as the $100 fine for idling buses, that is the same that the state charges so I don’t think we should go higher than that. If we do get to a place where we have a satellite parking lot for tour buses, this would allow our temporary road closures on weekends to be more efficiently enforced. Varela – Are we seeing a lot of tour buses idling in certain areas where they shouldn’t be or not utilizing the designated areas? Tucker – Mostly what we are seeing are bus drivers that don’t know where to go once they get to Salem. They are going down streets that are closed and getting stuck on streets that they can’t get out of. I am not aware of any issues with idling buses or at least we haven’t been notified of that or issued a lot of tickets for it. The worst problem is the bus going down a restricted road and stopping in the middle of a street to drop off 50 passengers. Sydoriak – I am not sure that the places that were studied are comparable to Salem and there are places that are more comparable to Salem than the ones that were used in the presentation. I also think that the fee could be higher. My question is regarding enforcement. If a bus has so many violations, is there a way currently to not allow them in Salem anymore and if this were to be implemented, is there a way to not allow them to use the app if they have too many violations? Tucker – We do have tiered offenses – first, second, etc. I don’t think that there is a way to ban them from the city. There may be a way through the Passport app. Kucharsky – We can create an allow list in the app for residents so we could probably use the same method for the buses, but it is based on the license plate number and not the company, so we couldn’t do it for an entire fleet or specifically for one company. Sydoriak – If we were able to restrict a plate or set up tiered fines for multiple violations, is that something that would require additional language in the ordinance or is that an enforcement issue that can be resolved outside by council? Kucharsky – For tiered violations, you would need to at least have an order. I think we should roll it out first and see how things go before we add higher violations. Hapworth – Can we pull data on how often the Salem PD is getting calls from the residents regarding the tour buses? That is something that I have been telling residents to call Salem PD so that it creates a record. Is that still good advice? And do you have the data that can be shared with the council maybe on a year-by-year basis? Tucker – If someone is sent out on a call, a report number is created but if we get multiple calls on the same issue, the dispatcher may stack those calls on one report unless there is a time gap between calls so those would be too hard to track. Hapworth. - It would be nice to have that information from 2020 forward because it seems that we have definitely been getting more tour buses in the last few years and residents are getting increasingly frustrated by them. It would be nice to have the buses display some sort of placard so you can see right away who they are, where they come from and that they are operating in Salem legally. There are many tour bus companies that operate as they should but then in October, it seems buses are coming and don’t know where to go or park and they are getting into some dangerous situations. I think that the fee should be higher during October and maybe even in September. A $100 fee during the month of October is very reasonable and I will make that motion once the time comes. Merkl – I agree that in October our costs are higher so the fee should be higher, but I think we should make it as simple as we can for these companies and just make the higher fee for the month of October instead of starting it on a date in the middle of September. I also think we should double check with MGL to be sure that the amount of the fine is allowable. Holappa – I think if we block certain plates or companies, they are still going to come to Salem but just not pay. I think the idling fine for idling should be higher than the fee otherwise they are just going to pay the fine. Also, I believe the maximum fine set by the Commonwealth is $300. Can the Passport app allow for a different fee from September 15 – November 1? Kucharsky – Yes, Passport has the capability to do different fees on different dates. We do that with other parking lots so it wouldn’t be a problem to coordinate that with Passport, if that is the will of the body. Smith – If we are running short on time for public comment, then I think we might want to pass this as is and change the fees/fines later. Under MGL Chapter 40, section 22A, states the max fine for anything parking related is $300. For an idling bus, you could fine them for not parking as well as not paying the parking fee, correct? Those would be 2 different fines. Who would be issued the ticket, the driver or the company? Tucker – That is a good question, I think the idling would be issued to the driver but not paying the parking fee could be issued to either depending on the circumstances because that would go against the license plate. Public Comment: Tina Jordan, ED, Salem Witch Museum – In the early ‘90s, we had 2000 motor coaches coming to Salem and no parking spaces. Now, there are around 800. The buses were all over the place. Now, we are told that we have 63 spaces, but I don’t see it. There are only 15 listed on the Destination Salem brochure. There are spots for 6 tours buses near the Witch Museum which we share with the other businesses. Some of those are drop off only. I would love for all the spots to be drop off only and have them go to a secure place to park. We want the buses to stay for 8 hours and not just 2 and we don’t want them downtown. We lost all the spots on Fort Ave. when they put in the bike lanes. If we paved the dirt lot by the Willows, that might be a good option for parking. Having a QR code on the signs so people can quickly look up the appropriate places to park is great, but I don’t think we should role this out this year, because there are too many things that we need to figure out. Mary Ward, Director of Sales, Salem Witch Museum – The motor coaches have all been upgraded to Biodiesel, so less emissions than regular diesel. How about paving the area across from the power plant and parking the buses there? Back to discussion – Hapworth – Motion on #223 after the word visit add language November 1st through September 30th, $100 October 1st through October 31st. The fees will be $50 from November 1st through September 30th and $100 from October 1st through October 31st. That is the first motion, then we will have another one for the fines. Holappa – My recommendation to align with the parking meters is to have the higher fees from September 15th through October 31st instead. Hapworth – I understand the argument, but I think it would be easier for the tour bus companies to have it higher for just the month of October. Varela – Motion by Hapworth for $50 fee for the year except for October 1st – October 31st at $100 and seconded by Holappa. Motion carries as amended 3-1. Hapworth – Motion on #222 to amend the fine from $100 to $150 for standing bus or bus with engine running removing the restricted area. Varela - Hapworth motions that we strike Section 3, $100 fine, bus, parking, motor, restricted area, and adding to $150 fine for standing bus or tour bus engine running, seconded by Holappa. Motion carries 4-0. Hapworth – Just a note for those that could not make public comment tonight, there are more conversations to be had about tour buses so send your feedback to citycouncilors@salem.com or give us a call. I think that everyone that is operating in the tourism industry appreciates clarity and some regulation so they can do the right thing. Those that are doing the right thing should be recognized for that and, those that aren’t, need restrictions and regulations. Motion for 2nd passage of #222 as amended. Seconded by Holappa and motion carries 3-1. Motion for #223 as amended and seconded by Holappa. Motion carries 3-1. on the motion of C. Hapworth the meeting adjourned at 7:01 P.M. Andrew Varela__________ mbc (Chairperson)