By JEFF LAGASSE

Staff Writer

KENNEBUNK — Those parking on a section of High Street in Kennebunk will now face limited on-street parking due to a change in a town ordinance, limiting parking to two hours between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Town officials and the Kennebunk Police Department have indicated that the change is intended to increase safety along that stretch by keeping the roadways clear. The ordinance change affects the part of High Street extending from York Street to Friend Street, where designated.

Since that section is in a mixed district with both businesses and residential housing, some who live in that area have been in the habit of parking on-street overnight, with selectmen saying Tuesday that this not only takes potential parking spaces away from local businesses, but makes it dangerous during winter months when plowing occurs.

“I’ve seen plow trucks zig-zagging around the cars down there, and it’s a nightmare,” said Selectman Richard Morin on Tuesday.

Town Manager Barry Tibbetts said that it was Phase II of the downtown renovation project, completed within the past couple of years, that highlighted the parking issues inherent on that street.

In an email to Tibbetts dated March 17, Kennebunk Police Chief Robert MacKenzie said a “lack of formal delineation” had been an issue, particularly prior to the construction, and that after Phase II of the project was completed, police monitored the street to gauge the effectiveness of the changes.

“We have noted in the past that parking supply in this area is a challenge, and we would support the concept of establishing a limited parking zone and do not anticipate this will create any safety-related issues,” wrote MacKenzie.

Businesses will benefit from the change as well, according Tibbetts.

“The whole point was to have patrons come to those establishments, then move on and let somebody else have that space,” he said.

Not everybody is thrilled with the changes. A landlord who owns residential property in that zone, speaking to selectmen at their meeting Tuesday, argued that residents of that street should be exempted from the restriction and allowed to park overnight in those spaces, since their most consistently available form of parking is of the on-street variety. The board argued that it is a landlord’s responsibility to provide parking for their tenants.

Paul Flaherty, owner of Cherie’s Sweet Treats, a business in that zone, said the parking changes should yield positive results, but that businesses could do more to improve the parking situation there.

“We paid out-of-pocket for spaces for our business,” he said. “That’s another option that should be considered.”

— Staff Writer Jeff Lagasse can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 319 or [email protected].