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08/20/2019 02:35 PMAs promised at its July 9 meeting, the Westbrook Board of Selectman (BOS) held a special meeting on Aug. 13 to follow up with West Beach residents’ concerns about beach parking. Residents had the chance to air their grievances, which centered on non-residents avoiding the $20 parking fee by parking at Town Hall, as well as information published in magazines and online that they say directs visitors to do so.
Because some residents felt that the issues they had come to address at the July 9 meeting were derailed by a discussion about crowds and illegal fireworks at West Beach on July 4, Westbrook First Selectman Noel Bishop stated more than once at the August meeting that it would not adjourn until everyone in attendance had a chance to be heard.
Actions Taken
Bishop began the meeting by reporting on actions taken to address residents’ complaints and recommendations. First, lines at the beach lot were redrawn on July 11, creating space for four to six additional cars to park.
In response to a complaint that employees of Hog Wild, the beach concession stand, were parking their cars in the lot and “taking up space they didn’t need to,” employees were asked to move their vehicles; Bishop said. “I think they’ve done that.”
Requests that signs be placed at the ends of Bellstone and Post Avenues directing beachgoers to the beach were referred to the Police Advisory Board/Traffic Authority, which has jurisdiction over town signage, he reported.
Following the July meeting, he said, Parks & Recreation staff, who collect parking fees at the beach lot, began one hour earlier, at 8 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.
Second Petition Invalidated
Bishop then said that Michael Wells, the town attorney, would comment on a second petition filed with the Town Clerk. The petition called for a town ordinance requiring the removal of websites, newspaper articles, magazine articles, and beach guides that state non-residents may park in the Town Hall for free beach usage and for signs erected on the Boston Post Road along the main beach road called Seaside Avenue directing the cars to the town beach.
A previous petition, signed by 139 residents, had been invalidated upon Wells’s advice because it did not follow the proper format. The second petition was equally invalid, Wells explained, because it did not provide the language of the ordinance it sought to be voted on in a town meeting.
A petition calling for a Town Meeting to vote on an ordinance “has a legal, binding effect,” he explained. “If a valid, legal petition requesting a town ordinance is submitted, it must be scheduled for a town meeting by the BOS.” In contrast, a petition that merely asks the BOS to address resident grievances does not require by law that the BOS do anything in response.
West Beach resident Rosemary Mastrobattisto said that “there were misunderstandings about asking for an ordinance” and that the group “really didn’t want an ordinance” but thought that’s what they had to include in order for the petition to be valid.
“The issue is that we feel is that we would like to have our concerns listened to and help with our problem solving. I’m very happy to hear about... moving forward with the signs,” she said, presumably referring to Bishop’s report that requests for signs had been referred to the traffic authority.
“We know that this issue is primarily on weekends, primarily in July, when we have more people here,” Mastrobattisto said. “I also had a couple of neighbors tell me that...they had like broken chairs and trash left on their property as people [were] walking to come up to the Town Hall.
“I just wanted to say what our petition represented: not really an ordinance, guys. Really, we didn’t want that...just working together,” she said.
Removing Offending Information
Bishop said he had a conversation with someone at Connecticut Coast & Country, a regional visitors guide published by the Harbor News’ parent company The Day, requesting removal of the recommendation that visitors park at Town Hall to avoid paying the parking fee; Bishop said he followed up with a memo confirming that.
The current print edition says in its beach listing, “There is alternative free parking at the Westbrook Town Hall, located about ½ mile from the beach entrance.” At the time of writing, the online version did not include this statement.
Bishop also reported that the website of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) has “public information about a whole variety of things in the state, including public parks, beaches, and so forth.” He’s enlisted the help of Sid Holbrook, a former “DEEP commissioner,” who has communicated to the department that the town wants DEEP to remove information about Westbrook’s public beaches from its website. Bishop speculated that other online publications are drawing their information about Westbrook beaches from DEEP’s website. The information about West Beach on the DEEP website, however, says nothing about parking at Town Hall.
Beach Access Required
There are two legal cases that affect beach access and parking in the state of Connecticut, Wells said. In Leydon vs. Greenwich, the state Supreme Court ruled that “a town cannot broadly restrict non-resident access to a town beach,” he said. A federal case determined that towns may charge beach parking fees and may charge non-residents higher fees than residents “as long as the fee is related to and relevant to the cost that the town is incurring in maintenance of the facility,” he said.
“Now, I would point out to you that your worries are far beyond little websites that nobody ever heard of or the DEEP’s website, which I doubt anyone looks at,” Wells continued. The Hartford Courant published “a lengthy article that listed every single beach from Greenwich to R.I. and it gives all the information about passes, when they’re open, where you can park, blah, blah, blah.”
Wells provided a copy of the Hartford Courant article to the BOS. The article does not recommend that non-residents park at Town Hall.
Back-and-Forth Disputes
An ensuing discussion addressed whether or not non-residents who park at Town Hall are depriving the town of significant income, but Parks & Recreation Direction Rich Anino disputed this.
“We’ve collected over $23,000,” he said. “That’s more than we’ve ever collected in the past history at the town beach.”
There was more confusion as to whether Westbrook residents who want their guests to park at Town Hall are required to formally request permission. According to Jill Brainerd, the town’s human resources specialist and facilities manager, residents are required to submit a form, a copy of which is provided to the police. Brainerd said she advises residents that their guests are not permitted to park overnight. Later in the meeting it became evident that there is no policy or ordinance that prohibits overnight parking at Town Hall.
Mastrobattisto expressed concern that her group’s complaints about non-resident parking at Town Hall might result in a prohibition of her and other residents’ guests from parking there. In addition, sometimes guests turn up unannounced when Town Hall is closed, making it impossible for her to submit the requested form.
After continuing back-and-forth comments among residents and town employees, former selectman Chris Ehlert told the BOS that it could resolve the issues by establishing policies for the Town Hall parking lot. His comments were met with applause.
“As far as I know...there’s never been any vote taken by the BOS to restrict or limit parking [at the Town Hall],” said Wells. “That means it’s open. If the BOS wants to, it can specify hours, it can specify reasons, it can specify, cost, off hours.”
As to overnight parking, Wells said that he didn’t “recall the BOS...ever voting on that as a policy...But it is possible that there are parking policies that...pre-date this BOS.
“If it’s that important to the BOS, you should come up with a new policy like Chris [Ehlert] said and make it part of the record that these are the rules,” Wells said.
Avoiding Discrimination
After a resident complained about non-residents dropping off “five, six people” and “blocking traffic,” Selectman Mary Labbadia asked how he knew that they weren’t residents. There was a back and forth during which she repeated her question, which was never answered.
Bishop brought up a news story of another town’s police who stopped “minorities” and asked why they were there.
“How do we make sure that this is a public beach if, in fact, we are able to take it off the website and all those things?” Bishop said. “But not cross that line that says... ‘you’re not welcome in this town because you’re an outsider.’”
He expressed concern that Westbrook might get a reputation for being “exclusive about their beach.”
Wrapping Up
Wells summarized what he understood to be the residents’ requests: One, that the BOS adopt policies concerning the use of the Town Hall parking lot; two, that the BOS “help to educate websites, newspapers, etc. on what those policies actually are so there’s less speculation”; and three, that “the traffic authority...consider again...putting parking direction signage somewhere...directing people towards the [West Beach] parking lot” and consider adding loading and unloading zones.
Resident Trooper Wayne Buck, after being asked to give his thoughts, said that aside from the Fourth of July, parking at Town Hall was not, in his opinion, an issue.
“There’s not a lot of cars [parked at Town Hall] and what cars I do see that are overnight, I’m assuming they’re staying at somebody’s house—which is fine,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t know why anybody else would have a problem with that. They park in a spot, it’s a weekend, the place is closed, that’s what it is.”
As for parking at the West Beach lot, Buck said residents often call the police to request that their guests park there after hours.
“I tell them, ‘Understand, we lock the gate at 10, so they’re in for the night,’” he said. The gate is opened the next morning.
“It’s just a courtesy to the people who live down there,” he said.
If someone calls during the night to ask the police to unlock the gate, they will be issued a ticket for parking after hours, Buck explained.
In response to complaints that people stop on Seaside Avenue to drop off people or beach equipment, Buck said, “Nobody complains when [the ice cream truck] is parking...And there’s 20 kids running around the truck. I mean, if we’re talking about safety, that’s an issue.
“But if somebody’s pulling off to the dirt area, as far off as they can go and getting their chairs out and stuff, that seems to be a problem,” he continued. “I don’t understand that. Personally, I don’t mind if cars stop or slow down on the curb because that makes all the other cars coming down the road slow down. So is it a safety issue? Could be. But 20 kids around an ice cream truck is more of an issue for me.”
Buck said it makes no difference to him whether people park at the beach parking lot or at Town Hall.
“They want to lug their stuff down the road—and I’m certainly not advocating leaving your stuff or leaving garbage or leaving broken chairs and things of that nature,” he said. “That’s a different issue. But I just don’t see it as a big deal and we seem to make it a big deal and turn it into something it shouldn’t be.
“So these are decisions you guys have to make on what you want to do,” he continued. “From my standpoint, if they want to park [at Town Hall], that’s fine with me, that’s fine with my office. If they want to walk down [to the beach], as long as they’re not destructive in any way, that’s fine.
“If they want to park on the side and let people off...the town beach starts from the Elks [Club] and goes all the way down,” Buck said. “So the sign you want to put on Bellstone or Post is ‘Beach: Straight Ahead.’ ‘Cause that’s where it is.”