New Town Shopping Center, Williamsburg, VA 23188
New Town’s Main Street parking spots may soon see time-limited parking.
The James City County Development Review Committee met Wednesday to discuss the New Town shared parking agreement, which was last approved in November 2011. New Town has applied to have about 126 parking spaces along Main Street designated as timed, with time limits between 30 minutes and four hours.
Likely the limit would be between two and three hours, said Larry Salzman, managing director of New Town Associates, LLC. Spaces would not be metered; signs would indicate the time limitations for parking there.
Salzman said he plans to come back and ask for additional timed parking after the roads within New Town are accepted under the Virginia Department of Transportation’s maintenance plan. At that time, Salzman said some 15-minute parking spots may be requested in front of restaurants with carryout menus.
“The idea with timed spaces in front of businesses … is to get people in and out of businesses,” Salzman explained.
Currently, the plan is to work out the kinks with signs and the length of time allowed per spot. There is no enforcement plan at this time; Salzman said generally when parking spaces are listed as timed spaces, people comply with that. There is a process where the police department could deputize New Town to allow New Town staff to issue parking tickets rather than using the county police, Salzman said, but that’s not the route they’re going at this time.
Cars that are left parked in New Town for an extended period of time are affixed with a sticker indicating the car will be towed if it’s not moved within 24 hours. That is a standing policy New Town will continue to enforce.
“In 10 years I don’t think we’ve towed five cars,” Salzman said.
In addition to having the capacity for people to drive themselves into New Town to park and shop, Salzman is a big proponent of continued public transit and values the service the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority supplies. He invited Deputy Executive Director Jamie Jackson to give the committee a presentation on the recent WATA trolley service changes.
After Jackson gave the committee an update on the increased trolley service, she explained an additional trolley bus, possibly two additional trolley buses, will be in service for Independence Day so riders can take advantage of the connection between New Town and Merchants Square to view the Colonial Williamsburg fireworks display.
The next shared parking update would be on Jan. 8, 2014 and would include a status update on timed parking.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend approval of the timed parking plan. A decision will next be made by to the Planning Commission.
