The City of Lewes is taking a top-to-bottom look at its parking regulations in an attempt to balance competing priorities from residents and businesses, especially in its central business district.
The city has created a new committee to look at its parking rules. At a meeting Thursday, Councilman Joseph Elder, a member of that committee, stressed that it wants to create recommendations that are fair to both residents and business.
“This review is about making sure our parking system works for everyone, everyone, residents, businesses, and visitors, while preserving the character [and] livability of our neighborhoods,” he said.
He characterized the town’s parking problems as one of multiple pressure points, comparing it to a game of Whack-a-Mole and handing out small squeeze toys to reinforce the point.
“When we fix one problem in one place, it just doesn't disappear. It moves,” he said. “We solve it here, and then we get pressure there.”
Much of that pressure happens in the downtown area. Betsy Reamer, executive director of the Lewes Chamber of Commerce is also a member of the committee.
“There are many people that come from outside the area, and they come in, and if they don't find parking places, as has anecdotally been told to us, they'll just leave and go out to the highway where the businesses have parking,” Reamer told council members.
She floated the idea of taking a new look at the city’s 1812 parking lot. Currently, part of the parking lot has a three-hour limit off season, while the rest of the lot has no limit on how long a person can park. Reamer said the committee should explore a three-hour limit for the entire lot.
“The idea would be that with the turn every three hours, parking places would open up and that customers could go to the shops and the restaurants.”
However, in an example of the pressure points affecting parking, many of those spaces with no limit are used by employees of those downtown businesses seeking to free up parking for patrons. Those employees could then find themselves parking on nearby residential streets.
The city’s police chief told council members that his department was exploring the possibility of acquiring a vehicle-mounted license plate reader, which would aid enforcement of parking violations, like people who park for longer than allowed.
Elder explained the idea, echoing Reamer’s argument.
“During the off season, if anyone stayed more than three hours, they would be ticketed,” he said. “The reason for that is we want to increase turnover in the business district because it allows more people to come in and then we believe it will take pressure off of the nearby residential section of town.”
Mayor Amy Marasco also had a suggestion.
“One of the things that I would like the committee to look at is diagonal parking,” she said. “You get more spots if you park diagonally than if you do the classic parallel. And there are opportunities in Lewes.”
Elder stressed the committee’s dedication to a transparent, public process as the committee continues its work.
