Parking popularity bringing tighter rules to Lynn lots

LYNN – Parking scofflaws and “transient” parkers beware – the city is taking a tougher approach to how it runs its increasingly popular municipal lots.Plans to enforce parking rates in the Andrew Street parking lot reflect broader changes planned for municipal lots across Lynn, said Acting Parking Director Robert Stilian.The Parking Department plans to post “payment is required in this lot” signs in the 100-space lot between Andrew and Liberty streets this week. Parking scofflaws who ignore the dollar an hour or $5 a day parking rate risk receiving a $20 violation ticket.Stilian said tickets will be written to violators beginning five days after the signs are installed. He said a parking attendant will also be checking the Andrew Street lot for violators in the evening and at night.Stilian said downtown?s growing popularity over the last 10 years as a place to live and the opening of downtown restaurants transformed the Andrew Street city lot from a business parking place to an around-the-clock lot.The city installed a mechanical kiosk in the lot in November 2013 to allow lot users to buy fare tickets. Stilian said the city Parking Commission voted late last year to crack down on people who park in the lot without paying.Stricter permit parking and “transient” parking rules affect two other lots on Buffum Street and Ellis Street.More than 50 downtown businesses and organizations have employees who park in the 200-space Buffum Street lot. Stilian said the demand for monthly parking permits for the lot has prompted the city to post the Buffum lot, as early as this week, for permit parking only.?We are running out of room for people who pay monthly,” Stilian said.To ease the parking space shortage for monthly parkers, Stilian said “transient” lot users – drivers who pay by the hour or day to park – will be directed to the Ellis Street lot located a block and a half off of Union Street and about three blocks from Buffum Street.Stilian said an automatic kiosk for purchasing fare tickets will be installed in Ellis Street in the next few weeks. Stilian said changes planned for downtown lots are “not about the revenue,” but city lot parking revenue figures for three years show that downtown changes are bringing fare-paying drivers into lots.Andrew Street in the fiscal year that started July 1, 2012 generated $53,000 in parking revenue compared to $92,000 in the fiscal year that ended on June 30. The Buffum Street lot generated $140,00 in 2015 compared to $132,000 in 2014 and Ellis Street generated $61,000 in 2013 compared to $69,000 in late 2014 and the first half of 2015.The city is also expanding and reconfiguring the layout for the Wyoma Square parking lot.