Caz Trustees Relax Parking Ordinance

‘Courtesy envelopes,’ as seen in Skaneateles, may follow. New ordinance is only one piece of comprehensive village parking plan.

Aaron Gifford

Motorists who exceed the two-hour parking limit in and around downtown Cazenovia will get one warning, with a $10 fine to follow if a second violation occurs within six months, the Village Board of Trustees decided at its regular meeting Monday.

The amended ordinance was prompted in part by complaints of excessive fines from downtown business owners and their employees, including Albany Street restaurant workers who paid more than $200 in fines in recent months; the previous ordinance didn’t include a warning clause.

The local law is also a public relations measure aimed at encouraging visitors to return to Cazenovia, not leave the village with a bad taste in their mouth after getting a parking ticket.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is make people feel good about coming here,” said Trustee Peggy Van Arnam. “Are we trying to be punitive? Or are we trying to generate more visitors? It isn’t just a parking issue.”

Van Arnam proposes a courtesy envelope initiative where a notice is placed on the windshield with a polite reminder that the vehicle has exceeded the allowed time in the parking space. Violators are issued a warning, not a ticket, and are invited to enclose a voluntary donation in the envelope and mail it back to the village or place it in the municipal building’s drop box. The revenues would go toward future parking improvements.

In Skaneateles, Van Arnam explained, the parking enforcement officer places those notices on windshields of cars that remain parked after their metered time expires, and puts a nickel in the meter. Although Cazenovia doesn’t have meters, she said, the concept is similar.

Skaneateles averaged $2.35 in donations for every $10 ticket that would have been issued if there was no warning or courtesy procedure, so the courtesy envelopes are not revenue generators, Van Arnam said.

Still, audience members and merchants called the amended ordinance and the idea of courtesy envelopes a “great first step.” Village officials will monitor the new law’s progress before courtesy envelopes are issued.

The new ordinance doesn’t solve the village’s overall parking problem. In the weeks to come, Van Arnam and a parking committee will study potential improvements like diagonal parking spots, all-day and all-night parking areas that are large enough to accommodate RVs, permit-only parking at Cazenovia College during semester breaks and pay station parking, which is common in Syracuse.

But as far as the pay station idea, Van Arnam cautioned, “I expect the parking committee to become public enemy number one.”

In other business

Trustee Kurt Wheeler said he is completing a rough draft of a “social host” ordinance that would penalize adults who allow underage drinking parties to take place on their property. Under the proposal, violators would be fined $500 for the first offense, with that amount increasing with additional violations.

Trustees indicated that they are concerned that other town boards within the Cazenovia School District, and the school district itself, are not doing more to support this proposal.

Wheeler, a teacher at Cazenovia High School, said unfortunately there’s a local tradition, the “senior sleepover,” where 12th-graders camp outside and drink all night before the annual senior breakfast.

“Every year, someone knowingly allows their child to host that,” Wheeler said. “If we have the courage to do this first, that’s how I see the process unfolding. You’re not going to change the culture unless people have an incentive. Look at what was done with smoking – that’s what’s going to be done with underage drinking.”

Van Arnam said a developer, whose name has not been disclosed, will appear at the Dec. 7 village board meeting to discuss construction plans on Riverside Drive property that is currently owned by the town.

A purchase agreement is supposed to be in place before then.

Caz Trustees Relax Parking Ordinance

‘Courtesy envelopes,’ as seen in Skaneateles, may follow. New ordinance is only one piece of comprehensive village parking plan.

In other business

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