BIDDEFORD — Visitors to the Green and Yellow designated lots in downtown Biddeford had to locate another place to park on Friday because of pavement grinding and other construction work to reconfigure the area and city officials expect it will be that way through the middle of next week.

Last month, Biddeford took steps to reconfigure downtown parking lots in the Federal and Franklin streets area in an effort to alleviate confusion, make the lots easier to navigate and reclaim more hourly parking spaces.

“The final step in the project is to pave the lot, and all work is scheduled to be complete by Wednesday, Aug. 14, weather permitting, said Danica Lamontagne, Biddeford Communications Coordinator in a press release. “Staff scheduled the project so as to minimize the impacts on parking permit holders and on the surrounding businesses, but parking will be limited in this area for brief periods over the next week.”

Lamontagne said that all normal parking areas will be accessible over the weekend until 7 a.m. Monday when parking will not be allowed in the Green Lot and again starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

“The lot will be paved and striped during this time,” she said. “Green Lot permit holders may park in any permitted lot at no additional cost during this process, including the Yellow Lot.”

According to Lamontagne, starting Tuesday at 7 a.m., the Yellow Lot will be closed starting at 7 a.m. until the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 14.

“At this time, paving of Franklin Street will take place between Main Street and George’s Italian, as well as the one-way road that connects Washington Street to Franklin Street near the Palace Diner,” she said. “Parking will be available in the Green Lot and in the parking spaces between George’s Italian and Jefferson Street.”

All paving work is expected to be completed on Wednesday morning and following that all normal parking areas will be accessible.

During an interview in July, Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant said confusion about the lots has existed since the city implemented paid parking in city-owned lots in the downtown in December, resulting in many receiving parking tickets.

“One of the fundamental problems with the lots is that the layout created confusion,” Casavant said. “There were too many ways in, too many signs. We are realigning the parking lot and cleaning up the area.”

Work on the lots is being conducted by the city’s Department of Public Works and will cost about $19,330, according to a memo from Biddeford Chief Operating Officer Brian Phinney. It will reduce the number of entry and exit points to the “Green” and “Yellow” parking lots to control traffic and simplify parking signs.

Under the reconfiguration, Federal Street will be eliminated completely and the entrance to the parking lot from Washington Street will be removed. Franklin Street will be converted to accommodate two-way traffic flow between the two remaining entrances from Main Street and Jefferson Street. Drivers will still be able to exit the lot onto Alfred Street next to Louis Pizza and onto Washington Street using the roadway next to the Palace Diner.

By closing Federal Street, additional parking spaces have been created in the Green Lot, Biddeford Public Works Director Jeff Demers said last month.

Demers said that the new design separates the Green Lot from the Yellow Lot with barriers. The Yellow Lot will remain hourly parking only and will continue to offer two hours of free parking per 24-hour period. It also will increase the number of available spaces from 25 to 52.

The Green Lot will be converted to long-term permit parking only and will decrease from 131 to 105 spaces. All of the spaces in the Green Lot are for monthly permit holders only.

Lamontagne said that once the reconfiguration is completed, there will be 354 spaces in the city’s seven parking lots and there are also about 391 free, on-street parking spaces in the city center.

Yellow Lot users will still be required to enter their license plate number at the kiosk in order to park for free for two hours in these spaces; the use of a credit card is not required. The amount of free 30-minute parking spaces near Louis Pizza will also increase from 12 to 14, and kiosk use is not required to park in these spaces.

Casavant said he hopes the new plan will address some of the complaints, particularly from area business owners, that began even before paid parking in city-owned lots was implemented.

During a special citizens’ meeting at the Little Theater at Biddeford High School on June 26 attended by Casavant, some Biddeford City Council members, and Biddeford City Manager Jim Bennett, numerous resident concerns and opposition to paid parking in the downtown lots was expressed.

Biddeford resident Sue Sexton of Grady’s Radio and Satellite TV on the corner of Main and Alfred streets, asked councilors and the mayor to scrap the paid parking plan.

“Let’s reconsider this parking thing and give people a place where they’re happy to live,” she said.

Stacy Cooper, the owner of Biscuits and Company of Alfred Street, said at the citizens’ meeting that her restaurant is being negatively impacted by the parking plan.

“From the beginning, I tried to stay neutral on the parking situation,” Cooper said. “I’m here because of what I’m hearing and the impact from the parking situation. Every day my customers tell me about their parking situation confusion. Many customers say they won’t come downtown without a reason. There are a new wave of tourists coming in who are surprised to see the changes.”

Cooper said as a business, she is paying more than $1,500 a year for her employees to park and is seeing fewer customers since paid parking was started.

Jason Litalien of Biddeford had filed a lawsuit in York County Superior Court in October against the city to prohibit charging to park in city-owned lots. The case was dismissed in May because he waited too long to challenge a City Council vote to approve the plan and should have filed his suit within 30 days of that vote.

Litalien filed another suit on constitutional grounds at U.S. District Court in Portland on May 24 claiming that implementation of the parking plan is a direct violation of the First Amendment rights of the citizens of Biddeford by disregarding the binding 2014 referendum.

In November 2014, citizens overwhelming voted to prohibit parking meters in the downtown. The vote was 6,761 to 959. But last year, as part of a larger Parking Management Plan, Biddeford’s City Council voted to begin charging to park in most city-owned lots in the downtown and ordered the installation of parking kiosks at those lots; people can use the kiosks or go to the City Clerk’s Office to purchase parking permits to use at the lots.

The new paid parking fees and regulations, combined with increased parking enforcement citywide, has resulted in a bonanza of parking tickets issued in Biddeford. According to Biddeford Police Department statistics, from January through May, police issued 2,609 parking tickets, an increase of 211 percent from the 838 issued in the same period last year. And 1,715 of those tickets were issued for violations in municipal parking lots.

When the paid parking plan was launched, Biddeford officials said that there were a number of reasons the parking changes were needed including providing short-term, high-turnover parking options for those visiting the downtown to eat, shop or do other business; taking the tax burden off property taxpayers to maintain downtown streets and the parking lots (the cost of which has been paid for through the general fund); and because there wasn’t enough parking to go around. They cited parking studies saying there is an existing demand for 4,200 parking spots, but only 2,889 combined public and private spaces exist in the downtown and adjacent mill district.

For specific questions about the new Green And Yellow Lot reconfiguration, residents are asked to call the City of Biddeford’s Public Works Department at 282-1579.

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 or by email at editor@journaltribune.com

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