Stoughton Center Parking Study Shows Several Needs to Address

STOUGHTON, MA — A study of the parking situation in Stoughton Center highlighted several problems that are causing residents and business owners to take their business else where.

The Stoughton Board of Selectmen had the Metropolitan Area Planning Council from Boston commission a study of the town center's parking situation. At last Monday's meeting, MAPC Assistant Director of Transportation Sarah Lee presented the study's results. The study used data to highlight several parking problems in Stoughton Center and attempted to offer some solutions to those problems.

According to survey results from the study, about 75 percent of survey respondents said they will at least occasionally shop or run errands outside of Stoughton Center because of the difficulty finding parking.

Additionally, Lee said there was a business owner who left Stoughton Center because his employees kept receiving parking tickets. The study found that there was an "overwhelming request" for more designated employee parking.

Another problem highlighted in the study's presentation was the lack of public parking. Survey results said that almost three out of every four respondents believed there wasn't enough parking in the center. Though Lee was able to identify a few under utilized lots such as the ones at Pearl Street and Washington Street, there was some truth to this widespread belief.

The chart below breaks down how the 765 parking spaces are distributed throughout Stoughton Center.

The MBTA owns a large chunk of the parking in Stoughton Center at 43 percent. Lee said, "Forty-three percent of the parking is not accessible to the public without a fee."

When describing the data collection process, Lee said, "It's expensive and time consuming to collect data in the right way...We try to give communities the resources to make those decisions."

Survey results were a large part of of this initial data. In total, 440 people responded to the survey, with most of them being Stoughton residents. Some were also business owners and employees. The following chart breaks down who these respondents were.

Survey results were then used by Lee to offer solutions for the town's parking issues. According to Stoughton's Economic Development Director Pam McCarthy, the town received a $27,000 grant two years ago to create a parking plan. The Stoughton Redevelopment Authority also contributed $5,000, so there's money available for Lee's suggestions.

One thing Lee noted is there's a lot of spaces that are being underutilized that Stoughton could advertise as public parking better. She said improving signage in certain areas will give more communication between the town and residents on where they can park. Two specific areas mentioned were parking at Pearl Street and Washington Street.

The other suggestion made was for a reshuffling of town center's current parking assets. Lee suggested the following plan:

• Move town hall employee parking from the Stoughton Town Hall lot to the Rose Street parking lot.
• Reallocate some if not all the town hall spaces for short-term parking.
• Eliminate commuter permits for Rose Street lot.
• Direct commuters to the MBTA parking lot.

Board of Selectmen Chair Robert O'Regan said he thought the study and plan laid out was thorough and asked Interim Town Manager Marc Tisdelle to explore what things can be taken care of administratively.

For the rest, the Board of Selectmen will consider options suggested in the plan and develop an action plan with a timetable. There are other considerations the Board of Selectmen will ponder including using the recently purchased Randolph Savings Bank for municipal parking. They said this will be discussed more at the next Selectmen meeting on June 19.