Swampscott Phillips Beach Recreation Parking Spaces Added, Violator Fines Increased

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — A prolonged debate about parking and violation enforcement in the neighborhood surrounding Swampscott's Phillips Beach reached an apparent conclusion when the Select Board voted to accept a recommendation of members of the Traffic Committee that increased the number of recreational spaces and decreased the number of resident-only spaces in the neighborhood, as well as increases the violator fine from $25 to $75.

The move came after 90 more minutes of discussion on the issue — which followed a 90-minute discussion session at another recent Select Board meeting — and included provisions to increase parking violation enforcement, add a sidewalk to one of the streets and more stringently enforce littering laws on both the beach and in the surrounding neighborhood.

The change increases the number of recreation sticker spots from 90 to 145, decreases the number of resident-only sticker spots from 312 to 257 and increases the number of handicap spots from two to four.

It also stipulates that the recreation and residential signs — which currently have the same color scheme with similar words that are considered confusing — be differentiated to better signal which sticker is necessary to park in which spot.

"It's scaled back quite a bit from the original proposal that was made," Fire Chief Graham Archer said. "We took into consideration general feelings from people about the amount of parking that was necessary as well as the specifics (of the data)."

Archer said that he was confident that the final proposal was the will of the since-disbanded traffic commission.

"We were asked to examine this issue and we did that," he said. "It is our feeling that it is an issue of fairness to expand the availability of recreational parking in the area. We feel there is an imbalance between the amount of demand there is to visit the beach and access the beach and park for the beach."

He added that if that demand does not materialize then altering the ratio of sticker spaces will have a negligible effect on the neighborhood.

"I just don't think this change will impact the neighborhood as dramatically as people seem to think. I just don't."

Archer said that the Phillips Beach parking issue has been one of the more contentious issues brought before the traffic commission in recent years.

The Select Board voted 4-0 in favor of increasing the fines following a determination that non-residents were willing to pay the previous $25 fine simply to enjoy a day at the beach.

The Select Board voted 3-1 in favor of the other changes, with Select Board member MaryEllen Fletcher saying she believes there are other solutions to beach access that don't take away resident-only spaces from in front of specific properties that have always that them. Select Board members Katie Phelan, David Grishman and Doug Thompson voted in favor of the amended motion to make the changes.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)