Traffic Commission 03/10/26

AI-generated summary. Written by gemini-3-flash-preview from the transcript below, which is the record. It may be incomplete or wrong; it does not report votes. Every item links to the moment it began.

The Commission approved several residential parking variances and a handicap sign for a local resident. It also adjusted parking durations on Salem Street to support business turnover while discussing the need for a citywide commercial parking policy.

1:07 Approval of Minutes — Approved the minutes from the previous meeting.
1:41 Handicap Parking Sign: 39 Wellington Road — Approved a request for a handicap parking sign due to the resident's difficulty navigating a hill and limited local parking.
5:45 Permit Parking Variance: 545 Main Street — Approved a variance allowing a resident of 545 Main Street to park on Smith Street because Main Street is subject to frequent street sweeping and lacks a driveway.
15:23 Permit Parking Variance: 61 Quincy Street — Approved a variance for a resident in a non-permitted section of Quincy Street to access permitted spots during snow emergencies.
22:07 Parking Duration Change: 301 Salem Street — Approved converting three two-hour parking spaces to 30-minute spaces in front of Eddie's Place and Douglas Bakery to facilitate customer turnover.
35:02 Tabled Business — Tabled items regarding 427 High Street and 191 Riverside Avenue because the petitioners were not in attendance.
36:13 Commercial Parking Variance: 11 Walcott Park — Placed the matter on file after informing the petitioner that the Commission lacks the legal authority to grant parking variances for commercial vehicles.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Yeah, all right. Good evening, everybody. This is the March Traffic Commission meeting for the city of Medford. I'm Sergeant Covino. I'll be facilitating the meeting. Alma, could you call roll?

[Councilor Zac Bears]: All right, if I could ask everybody in the public to mute yourself until it is your time to speak, that would be helpful.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Sorry, I just said it so that people can't unmute themselves unless we tell them. And we need to hit the record button. Sorry, move the record button. There we go. I'm doing it.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: And I started AI companion to help with notes as well. I did that, not somebody else.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Thank you. We have a motion to approve last month's minutes. I'll make a motion.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Okay. All right. So a new business 2026-12, Handicap Parking Sign, Vincent Federico, 39 Wellington Road.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Hi, we can hear you. Would you like to let us know why you're requesting this?

[SPEAKER_05]: I requested a handicapped parking spot because I live up a hill on 39 Wellington Road and I have a hard time walking up the hill and I always have a hard time finding a parking spot because I live in an area where a lot of people have cars and a lot of two, three, four families, like three or four people live in one place and they all have cars. And sometimes it's really, really hard for me to get a parking spot.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: This is 39 Arlington Road. Does somebody want to share the screen? So there appears to be a driveway. Can you sort of explain, let us know why you can't use the driveway or why that's not sufficient for your needs?

[SPEAKER_05]: The owner, they have four cars upstairs and they use the driveway.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: So is traffic or Todd or somebody able to let us know if there are other handicapped spots on the street already? What's this? Yeah.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: So we can see if there's a, And when I drove by, there was only one in the street. It was closer to 50, I believe. 55. Jim had the number earlier. But that's the only one that I saw on the street. So I- Go ahead, Alicia.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: I understand you wouldn't be on the agenda if you had not submitted proper medical documentation or documentation to the police department. But you understand that if we put in a handicapped spot, only a vehicle with a handicapped plate or hand tag can use it. And anybody who has a handicapped hang tag or plate could use the spot. So it would not be reserved to you personally. I assume you have some kind of handicapped tag or plate

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Great. I'm sure, Alva, you would not have put it in front of us if it wasn't. You're right.

[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Covino? Yes. Four to nothing, one vacancy, it passes.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: All right, Vincent, do you have any questions before we move on? The sign should be going up in front of your house, but as Alicia said, it's not directly reserved for you. It's anybody that has a placard is gonna be able to park there.

[SPEAKER_05]: I'd like to just say one thing. I'd like to thank Alva for helping me with the process because she's, I try to do it on my own and I feel that she helped me with the process and I want to personally thank her.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: All right, new business 2026-13, permit parking variance, Zachary Gaffney, 545 Main Street, for Smith Street, Zachary is in the crowd.

[SPEAKER_01]: Hi, yeah, so I recently moved to Medford and I was never kind of, I guess, probably partly my own fault, never realized that if you didn't have, if you just had a Medford, how Medford did it with the streets and stuff, I kind of always assumed that you'd be able just park on a side street. If you had a resident thing, there's no driveway at this location, specifically with the snow roof snow, it's been completely awful parking. And I directly look out of my window at down Smith Street all the time. So it's kind of like we're at the end of Smith Street anyway. And most of the houses on the street At this point in time, I'll either have some sort of driveway or their corner house, which would be eligible for one of the side streets. And I was just hoping that I would be able to just kind of park on Smith Street.

[Todd Blake]: So Main Street in that area is unrestricted, right? From Tufts Square all the way up to Somerville?

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so that's why there's also just the traffic and the amount of cars parking sporadic constantly. This street is also one of the streets that, because it's a main street, it's being street swept twice a week, on Sunday nights and then Monday nights as well. So that was also the other problematic aspect.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: So one, so I think usually when we look at these, there's a couple of things we want to consider. What is the parking in the area? What is the cross, like the crossing and stuff? Because you'll have to cross the street to get to Smith Street. I don't know if anybody. has any concerns about that. But there aren't any side streets. In order to get to a side street on his side of the road, he'd literally have to walk all the way to where the crosswalk is anyhow in order to get. It's not like there's side streets on his side of the road.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Right. In terms of parking, Smith Street's usually pretty open, but the other side streets are definitely a little bit more crowded. but the Smith Street residents all have driveways, as far as I know, and parking's usually okay there. Zachary, when you moved in, did your landlord tell you anything about parking or if you knew whether or not you'd have a driveway?

[SPEAKER_01]: just that oh no not that there was a driveway i was aware that of that moving in um i just moved from somerville so i just kind of assumed that like i was only in the ball square area of somerville prior to this i mean it was my mistake i just kind of assumed that it was similar to somerville where if you got a residence sticker you could park anywhere um it and that was my mistake but he had informed me that it was uh no permit required on for parking I just also just assumed, which was my mistake but I just kind of assumed, even without. I just thought I could still get a Medford parking permit until I went down the process and realized it's just not even an option. Because that's part of the issue too has been like, specifically with the winter months, like, the parking on both sides is limited to the point where it's like, I've been looking out my window watching buses come into, like, basically single lanes and traffic jams out there. I've witnessed 1 of the fire trucks take off somebody's mirror. Um, and it's kind of just been annoying in my regard, just cause I look down Smith street and see a dozen empty spots all the time.

And I'm not using my car on a, uh, a commuting basis. So I kind of don't necessarily mind walking to the crosswalk on a, when I do need to use the car on a personal level.

[Sarah McDermod]: Well, I just wanted to chime in and say, I looked up, there's currently 9 permit 9 vehicles with permits for Smith street and 8 visitor permits potentially on the street as of today. So, I think. I don't think it'll be, I don't think 1 more would hurt. And actually, 1 of them is a variance. Let me see if there's any variances.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: I was in the variant spreadsheet and now I can't find it on my screen. Sorry, I have too many things.

[Sarah McDermod]: Yeah, there is one from Edward Street. It's a corner variance, though. It's still on the list for some reason.

[Sarah McDermod]: Yeah. That one is the one who has it right now is probably that Edward Street. Well, I don't know. They're both kind of old. Zero Smith Street. Yeah, it's 544 Main. I don't see that on here then.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: So I will tell you if you haven't yet signed up, the city has a robocall system that will tell you of things that are going on. Are you on it for the street sweeping and snow emergencies?

[Director Alicia Hunt]: And I mentioned that because eventually at some point, we would like to talk about with the public putting zones in more like Somerville's parking and people who are in your situation who've had to come to us for a variance should notice when we're having those meetings, because you'll wanna come and speak about it and about your experience. There's been pushback from residents on doing that, which is why they don't exist right now. So, when people come for variances, I like them to know that there might be a better solution in the future, but only if people speak up for it.

[Sarah McDermod]: Yeah, actually 5 of those permits are variances from corners. So 544 and 548. so 5 of the 9 permits on Smith street. Are variances from the corner homes on that side of main street just.

[SPEAKER_01]: Just saying, and that's sounds like they have driveways on Smith street. And I've honestly noticed that myself, just because of being there for a number of months now, and I'm like, I can see where that's partly where some of my annoyances, I guess, with the situation coming. So I can see them parking there and I can see them parking on the side and then I'm like, I'm not able to do that, which.

[Sarah McDermod]: So, just to be just to make it clear, if you're on a corner, like, those 2 homes, the variance is automatic. So they didn't all come here and get something from traffic commission. I just want you to know that. So you don't think I don't just in case they don't approve it. I don't want you to think that others got approved, but those are those are built in because they're on a corner.

[Tim McGivern]: Thank you. Does his description match any experience you have with that road as far as the parking capacity goes?

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Yeah, no, Smith Street's definitely relatively sparse. I would be concerned more about Edwards or anything like that, but Smith Street is usually pretty good for parking.

[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Covino? Yes. Four to nothing, one vacancy, it's approved.

[Sarah McDermod]: Sure. So Zach, you can come by, I'm putting your name on the variance list right now. So whenever you, the first time you get your variance, you'll have to come to City Hall to the parking office to get it. The first car is $20. You can come down anytime City Hall's open from now on.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: All right, new business 2026-14, permanent parking variance. Jared Graber of Quincy Street. Jared, are you?

[SPEAKER_08]: Hi there. Yep, same issue as Zachary. My section of Quincy Street is not permitted, needed, or no permit needed to park on my one section. Other parts of Quincy Street, you do require a permit. We just moved in on Sunday. Right now it's not an issue as the snow has melted with the luckily 70 plus degree weather days back to back. But in the winter when we first were here, the first week or two, it was brutal finding parking on this street.

Snow was keeping up the entire road. So there was very, very limited parking. The number, oh, do we need the number of the home? It's number 61. Thank you. Yeah. So I'm requesting parking variance so that I can park on other parts of Quincy Street in case the snowpocalypse happens again, and we can not have to worry about getting a ticket if we're outside of our one small section of no need for permit.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: All right, one section, I don't know, Todd or traffic, somebody able to explain one section of Quincy needs permits and the rest doesn't?

[Jim Silva]: I think Quincy runs into Somerville, and so it's a line. That part of the street is the closest to Somerville, I believe, is permit, and then closest to Boston Avenue, it's not.

[Sarah McDermod]: Yeah, so between Capon and Osgoode is not permitted. From Osgoode down to the Somerville line and from Capon up to Boston Ave is permit parking.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Wait, Capon to Boston Ave is permit parking? How did they put permit parking on one half of one street?

[Jim Silva]: I think people came and asked for it in front of their house back in the day. So really, it creates this problem.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Right. And so actually, making sure that the applicant understands this, that we have authority in Medford and your street runs into Somerville. Different permits. Okay.

[SPEAKER_08]: My home resides in Medford though. I can't use the, to follow up on that too, I can't use the driveway as it's the other residents below us, their driveway that they get to use. I know Quincy Street goes into Somerville, but on our side, we are still Medford, so we can't even ask for Somerville permit parking.

[Todd Blake]: Yeah, and then Google it's referring to West Quincy Street. So this angular line right here that kind of lines with this wall or fence is a line.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: We know there are properties that cross the line. It's always fascinating.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Oh, yeah, it depends what part of the house you're in, what part of the city, which city you're in. Especially on Medford.

[Sarah McDermod]: Somerville's pretty good about just like, this is ours, we're going to enforce it. So there might be signs on that end that say like, from here on, you're in Somerville. Yeah, I could see one on Google Maps right now, actually.

[Jim Silva]: You also might want to petition, you might want to petition your neighbors to get the rest of the street permit parking as well, so that you don't have to go through this every year.

[SPEAKER_08]: That might be a good idea. Is it just from, so it's just this one section, right? Because the other section is considered West Quincy Street, past Osgoode, or is that technically Somerville?

[Jim Silva]: They're Medford, and then it turns into West Quincy Street when it's the Somerville side.

[SPEAKER_08]: Gotcha. And then I only need to petition my co-residents on my part of the street, correct?

[Jim Silva]: Correct. And you can come here and petition us and we can do something sensible and make the whole street resident parking.

[SPEAKER_08]: That makes sense. I think they probably are used to it being permitless, but I'll give it a shot. Good idea.

[Jim Silva]: Hopefully, as Alicia alluded to in the previous conversation, we are looking at zone parking. We have been attempting to implement this. We have a report that submitted and suggested this in the urban areas of Medford. We do have a part in the G Zone, which covers a great deal of South Medford and the hillside. So, unfortunately, your location is not part of that yet, but Having your street completely full will allow for zone to go a little bit easier in the future. Sounds good.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: From the traffic side of things, Quincy Street's usually not too bad in terms of parking. Jared, do you have access to a driveway? I'm sorry if you already said that.

[SPEAKER_08]: No, I don't. If I need to, I can ask my neighbor politely, but it's his driveway he has access to. Okay. Yeah. And they have two cars.

[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Covino? Yes. Four to nothing, one vacancy. It's approved.

[Sarah McDermod]: Yeah, Jared, just like Zach, if you can come down anytime to get your your permit, you'll be on the variance list. And if you get it one time in the office and you continue to live there, you can renew subsequent years online. That's kind of a new thing. But you just have to make one trip to the office. And you won't have to come back. As long as you continue to renew the permit, as long as you live in Medford, you won't have to come back to traffic commission to get it approved again. But if you skip a year, you'd have to come back.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Okay, 2026-15 request from Eddie's Place, 301 Salem Street to change current two-hour parking in front of his business to 30-minute parking.

[Enio Duka]: Yes, hello. How's everything? So I am a small business owner here in Medford, 301 Salem Street called Eddie's Place. And it's like two more business near me, the Douglas bakery and the hair salon down on the street. So people start parking like still 10 o'clock in the morning. The car has been there for two hours, three hours, four hours. And it's been like a very problem for my business because most of my customers take like 20 minutes, 30 minutes to pick up the food or to get it like a slice of pizza or a sandwich for here.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Has something changed? Did they used to move and now they've stopped moving? Like people have figured out that they're not gonna get ticketed for staying there too long?

[Enio Duka]: Honestly, no, like today is like a GMC truck staying for all day with the Florida plates. And I think it's from, from, from someone who lives down on the state on the park street, but they find a place here. They got the other car. I don't know. I have seen people like who park the car and get the bus. I come back like after three hours or four hours. And plus with the construction site in front of me, a lot of spaces are blocked over there. So people start parking on this side and leave.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Sarah, did you want to comment at all? Just because I feel like. I don't disagree with having 30 minutes. Parking in front of things 1 of them is a hair salon though, right? The hair salon is going to want to have, like, keep the longer parking because people need to be there longer.

[Sarah McDermod]: Yeah, I mean, so he did reach out and ask for more enforcement, which I asked my staff to check. And not just, I mean, it wasn't just him. I've gotten complaints recently from the cycle shop on the next block down that people stay too long in front of their business as well. Currently, their sign is broken and hasn't been put back up yet. Not broken. It got hit by a car and so the cycle shops kind of struggling with no restrictions in front of their, their business right now. But. Yeah, I don't see a problem change. I drive by there every morning. I see people running in to get coffees in the morning to those businesses and then coming across the street. So honestly, I think it would be safer if there was a lower duration on that side, simply because I see people crossing the street in the morning just to get over there to get in and out. Because they go into the bakery there, so presumably they're croissant and their coffee in the morning.

But I think you're right that there still should be some space with a longer duration for the salon. But is that Park Street? Is that the next street? Park Street doesn't require a permit, so that's something to keep in mind too. I wish all these people parking on Salem Street in the restricted area would just park on a non-restricted, non-permitted street.

[Todd Blake]: 50 yards away, but... Yeah, I was gonna mention, part of the problem might be that this last sign here with the double arrow, there's no end sign for it, so I wonder if this space and these two spaces park longer as well. So I definitely support the shorter term, 30 minute, it's just a matter of where and how many, right? If you could possibly extend these hour restrictions, because they're 7 to 7 as well, they're not overnight, so you could possibly consider adding all the way to this, next to this area. Are they all two-hour spots right now, Todd? So it looks like two hours on his side of the street and then one hour on the construction side. And then there's at least one 15 minute near the convenience store over here. So it's a combination of 15, one hour and two hour. And I agree the hair salon does have a lot of business that requires probably more time. So a good combination is good, but definitely 30 minutes near like a takeout place.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Yeah, it looks like it's Eddie's and then Douglas Bakery.

[Todd Blake]: And then you have the hair salon here. And I think this might be vacant over here.

[Tim McGivern]: What if we did two spots right there, 30-minute spots, in front of Douglas and Eddie's? Then you got what? Then you got two two-hours, two 30s, and then some hours across the street.

[Todd Blake]: Yeah, and then if the hair salon and others ever need it more, you consider going further down the block if you needed to.

[Tim McGivern]: I'm OK with that. I think it's good for if the businesses say they want that on their furniture, then I think it makes sense.

[Todd Blake]: I'm from Eddie's place. Did were you requesting like one two or the whole block? What was your thoughts on that?

[Enio Duka]: So I mean my thought is like at least like three or four parking supposed to be be available for our business for mine and for Douglas because on the Douglas bakery the most rush hours for him are on the morning side like 7 o'clock till 10 and for me is the more rush hours around 11 to 3 and 5 to 7 So if it's available to make like three or four parking spots on 30 minutes on this side, it's going to be very helpful. At least like 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. where the rush hour is very important for us.

[Todd Blake]: Yeah, it looks like the frontage between the bakery and Eddie's together is about 70 feet, so that does jive with like three spaces or so.

[Tim McGivern]: I mean, there's still a couple more, two hours and then one hour. What are the hints at why there would have been two hours on one side and one hour on the other? Do you have any hints on why that would be the case?

[Todd Blake]: No, the former business over there was like an electrical business. I don't know why that was necessarily one hour. The 15 minute makes sense near the convenience store laundromat. Yeah. But like I said, there's two spaces under this tree here that could be something if the businesses need it more. And usually if you're there longer, you walk a little further, right, than the shorter term.

[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, so if you want to go to Eddie's, the bakery, for more than 30 minutes, you have plenty of options. If you want to sit there and eat, take a little longer than 30 minutes. But also, if you're running in, grabbing a slice, grabbing a cup of coffee from the bakery, you have some options there. You might need to wait in line, look at the menu for a little bit. What's that? Is it a food store on the corner?

[Todd Blake]: Which corner? Down the park. Park in Salem? I don't know what is here currently. Is that vacant?

[Tim McGivern]: I wonder what it's slated for. There's a hider right there, so there's no spot there.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Well, we permitted them a couple of years ago through site plan review with the idea that it would be a cafe with like eight apart, I think eight apartments up top.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: They had a lot of trouble going through permitting, and then it's been on the market as a fully permitted last we've checked. It's been on the market.

[Tim McGivern]: Not the hole, no, the other side, this building that Eddie's in.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: We haven't heard anything. I don't think, do we see the address on it? I would say that I, 285. I don't think we had noticed that it was vacant yet.

[Tim McGivern]: Will it be a business that likes 30 minute spaces or will it be a business that likes two hour spaces?

[Todd Blake]: This is 2022. This image is 2022 so it could be misleading. Maybe Eddie's place knows if there's a neighbor over here. It's a big store.

[Enio Duka]: I mean, this story is from some Chinese people. I mean, it's always closed. I think they work on the backpacking stuff and distribute for Wal-Mart, Market Basket. Because I can see the pickup truck every night coming through the back, through the park street and take the left on the back of the building.

[Todd Blake]: Oh, yeah, that's right. There are some, there's a little bit of parking behind the building, right? It's like more for trash pickup, I think.

[Enio Duka]: Yeah, yeah, it's like a driveway for the for the 171 Parkside building and for the our trash pickup and. Thank you.

[Tim McGivern]: I mean, I'm okay with 3. I mean, the salon isn't here. Are we still leaving enough space for 2 or 3, 2-hour spaces in case the salon wants long-term appointments?

[Todd Blake]: It's hard to learn somebody. I mean, I was thinking to cut the difference, Tim, you could give them the three they want, but slide them down and include one space in front of this house since it's only daytime hours. Yeah, that's a good idea. And it would be free back up to the nighttime for this blue house. So if you start with the blue house, go this car, the white van, and one, and then that would leave one overlapping in front of the bakery for the two hours still.

So you get three overall 30s, but it would just be two in front of Eddie's and one in front of the Blue House, maybe. Because we have heard from, not necessarily this hair salon, other hair salons in the past that they like longer times, as we know.

[Tim McGivern]: Yeah. And I think that store on the corner, even though right now it sounds like they're using some, they're doing something supply related maybe in the inside of that, or who knows related. But that, I feel like that could be, you know, a business that you spend more than 30 minutes at in the future. Anyway.

[Tim McGivern]: We could get- It's kind of a shame that they're using that front for like, you know, supply packaging or whatever they're doing.

[Todd Blake]: Yeah. It looks like we could have, this looks like about maybe six total. So three and three could fit if you go in this area that I have marked out from the hydrants of the driveway. Yeah, I'd be okay with that.

[Tim McGivern]: Unless there's any other commentary from the commission, I'd move to have three 30 minute daytime spaces laid out per engineering division direction and retain the other three and status quo.

[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Covino? Yes. Four to nothing, one vacancy. The motion is approved.

[Councilor Zac Bears]: All right, it looks like We've got these two that are tabled, but we have one person. Yeah.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Sales iPhone, are you there? Are you here from Elmont class? You could wave your hand because you're not, you're still muted. Did you ask her to unmute?

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Yeah, it doesn't look like he's in here either. It's just the woman from Walcott. Yeah, she's under table business. Do you know of which one?

[Councilor Zac Bears]: Yeah, we have a third page. Yeah. Okay. I'll make a motion to remove this from table business.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this will be my third time in front of the Traffic Commission. I believe the first time was maybe 2018. And it's due to the fact that I have a small Ford Transit Connect minivan that happens to have a commercial plate on it. I need the commercial plate for my small business. The business is actually in Boston. It's a tour business. And having the commercial plate allows me to park my van within Boston for three hours, which is like the duration of my tour, without getting a ticket or having to put it in parking. It is also my everyday use vehicle, since there's no point for me to have two vehicles. On my street, which is 11 Wolcott Park, I don't have a driveway. I did, before I came to the commission the first time, I actually asked for a curb cut to put a driveway in and I was denied. I was trying to do everything I could to get the van off the street.

When I went in front of you guys, I showed pictures of the street. Sounds like you guys can pull that up right now on maps and you can see it's very, very wide. It is an unpermitted street, so it doesn't require a parking permit. Currently, my small van, which might be in the picture that you see right now, actually, yep, that's it. That's my van. That's my husband's car, and that's my van right there. Yep, that's it. It's actually smaller than my husband's car and currently smaller than my father. It's a multifamily, and he has a big truck. So my car is one of the smaller ones on the street.

Every now and then, I get a ticket for the van's commercial plate. I hadn't been getting them, then I get them. I came up for the second time. I was told I was given a variance, and now I've been getting them again. So I just wanted to see if I could maybe get another variance to just not get ticketed since I don't have many options for the vehicle. I do pay excise taxes to Medford. The plates are, you know, to the address.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: The mayor told us that she wasn't hearing from people from residents who wanted a commercial permit parking policy. And we find that they're all coming here and we say we're hearing from people. So regardless, you may want to reach out to the mayor.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: You may want to reach out to the mayor because There's been talk of making a commercial permit parking policy, but there are people who are very much against it. And the mayor has not heard from anybody who wants us to make a policy allowing commercial vehicles to park on streets. You are the poster child for why we think there should be a policy that you're paying excise tax to the city on this vehicle for your small business.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I was never denied. I was actually always the two other times I was in front of your board, everyone unanimously was like, yes, you should be able to park there. And I usually do not get tickets. So I guess it went well first was Park Medford. I guess there's no more Park Medford anymore. Is that correct? Right. So first, I was getting tickets from the Park Medford. In fact, I had never gotten a ticket before Park Medford. So that's when it first happened. I was like, why am I getting tickets? This is so strange, because we've been in the house that we bought the home in 2014.

And I was just like happily parking my car in front of it with no issues. I didn't even know that there was I didn't even know that I couldn't park my car on the street with the commercial plate because I never had any issue with it. So when Redford was issuing the tickets, I was freaking out because they kind of came fast and furious. And I came to the meeting, rambling.

[Tim McGivern]: So I came Is that your is that your house there that light blue one that we were just showing the big blue house is my house.

[SPEAKER_00]: I do not. We did. Like I said, actually, when I was there, and she's the best lover. When I spoken to her about it, she said, Well, how about before you even come to us because she's so thorough. She's like, come to Medford, you can go to City Hall and just bring the zoning plans. I brought the plans for my home, the deeds and all that to see if I could actually get a curb cut. And I was told I could not get the curb cut.

[Tim McGivern]: And do you have enough space to have a car on the property in accordance to zoning?

[Todd Blake]: Yeah, Tim and I are looking at this, like if you have enough length, you could potentially, I think that's what Tim's getting at. I was just wondering if your vehicle would, if it would overhang, it's a sidewalk, that might be a problem, but if it could fit, is that what you're getting at, Tim?

[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, I think you're entitled to one curb cut, 20 feet wide. You can put it anywhere on your frontage and it looks like you have enough space for a driveway.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: So, there is some stuff. I would say 1st, I'd ask when were you last denied? Because it's possible that we now have new staff like Tim and his crew who.

[SPEAKER_00]: That was around 2018. that was the 1st time I came in front of the commission. was when they said no. And I think I did bring the letter at the time to you guys when I first went to the meeting. I brought pictures and- Sorry to interrupt.

[Todd Blake]: The driveway is a different non-traffic commission item. So that's where some of the- Yeah. So the driveway curb cut would have been the commissioner before Tim was here. So the former commissioner separate from traffic commission, that's a different process.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I know. I totally understand. I know it's separate. I just kind of went through the motions just because, like I said, I wanted to, you know, not have any problems. And I thought, well, if this could ameliorate that. Okay, great. We could do the curb cut. In the meanwhile, like I said, I came to the group, and everyone was kind of unanimous, like, yeah, you should be able to park here. So someone put a note into Park Medford, and then I stopped getting tickets. Some kind of variance happened, so that was great. I've been happily parking my van there. What's the red thing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yeah, that is just paved. That's just like some tiles that went down.

[SPEAKER_00]: Exactly. And since then, because this looks old, the house next to us, actually, where that bush is now, they actually did get a curb cut, but that building went condo. So when it sold, I think when they redid the whole thing, They got a curb cut, which I was like, how did they get a curb cut?

[Tim McGivern]: You're entitled to one under zoning, so you can have one. It's just a matter of where you want to put it. And then you just approve it through the DBW office. Engineering just does a quick review usually. And we want you to use certain contractors that are on the list because we do. And then the only other thing that would be a hiccup is just check zoning. I don't know if you're familiar with the zoning around here, but some places you can't park cars and the front driveways have to be in a certain place.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: I'm trying to find this on the GIS, like in Access GIS, and I'm having a lot of trouble with this.

[Tim McGivern]: It's weird that your property doesn't have a curb cut. Usually properties have curb cuts when they're built.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a, it is a burden. Um, so right now what I'm seeking is just relief to be able to keep what I've had going because, um, I went again. So, like I said, the 2018 meeting, great. Everyone approved it. I stopped getting tickets. phenomenal. Two years later, 2020, I think there was also that's when the new chief came in. I think there was a new chief and maybe things changed. I started getting tickets again. I came in front of the commission again and everyone was very like, yep, we understand you should be able to park. So I stopped getting tickets. That was great and you don't control the ticket.

[Tim McGivern]: So this board is just going to approve and approve the regulation, but we can't approve or deny you a permit because we have no mechanism to do so. And we haven't had 1 to your best option. I think is calling the mayor. In letting her know that you're in a position that. may require some sort of a policy for vehicles like yours that you use as a personal vehicle, but it's also a small business vehicle that's registered outside of town and has commercial plates. So right now, we don't have a mechanism to give you a permit, and the parking system is built to enforce these types of things. So I can't speak for the enforcement side of things, but it may just be a coincidence on how things are getting enforced. Anyway, that's I think we don't have much to offer you at all.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: I think that's what I was getting at is that there is no ability for us to give cars, vehicles with commercial plates of variance. I'm perplexed. So the and that basically when Park Medford went away, they were doing whatever they wanted. But legally, we don't have that authority. And so every single commercial person who has come in front of us in the last four years has been either tabled or denied. And we have been suggesting that there should be a policy that allows us to give this. And so that's where we're recommending. Or maybe what I'm saying is we're saying that it's the mayor. Yeah, to address the problem, too.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, perfect. I mean, um, I actually do know the mayor very personally. And I was sort of like wanted to go through the proper channels. And tell her we try to help you and explain. So now at least I can like also have that like, well, I did go to the commission. Her son plays hockey with my son and their personal friends. So I do know Brianna, we bump paths a lot. But I will send her an email or text and you know see I can get any relief that way But an excellent case example for I mean reason why we would have a policy so

[Todd Blake]: I would also say this is why we were suggesting that maybe revisit the other option. If a driveway were possible, then that's a space that's dedicated for you all the time, right? That you don't have to fight with other people to find the space on the street. And Tim's the commissioner that you would go to his department to... Okay, cool.

[Todd Blake]: Yeah, so some other people seeking the same commercial variance that you are or something like that, that doesn't have an option, you may have a physical option, right? So that could be a solution.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, perfect. All right, sounds good, guys. Thank you so much.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, no, no worries. No worries. Like I said, I'm not really sure, like in the meetings past, like, I don't know if it was like the meeting or just dumb luck that I didn't get tickets. So I wasn't sure what was happening on the back end. And I just noticed I've been getting them again. So I will, I will contact Brianna and see what she says.

[Tim McGivern]: she's and I'll make a motion to remove off our agenda just place on file.

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, perfect. All right, well, that sounds good. Yeah, thank you guys.

[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Okay, voted nothing to receive and place on file. and Jim can leave at six o'clock.

[Director Alicia Hunt]: Am I really gonna have time before the city council meeting to myself?

[MCM00001607_SPEAKER_07]: Sergeant Cabino? Yes. Board, another motion is adjourned 557.

Zac Bears total time: 3.78 minutes total words: 504