Public Invited To Talk About Princeton's Permit Parking Plan

PRINCETON, NJ — The public is invited to talk and give feedback on Princeton Task Force's efforts to develop a comprehensive permit parking plan on Oct. 16. The plan is for the neighborhoods within walking distance of the central business district and high school, including the Tree Streets, Witherspoon-Jackson, Jugtown, and portions of the Western Section.

All Princeton residents, business owners and employees are invited to the forum, which will be held at 7 p.m. at 400 Witherspoon Road.

Participants will hear short presentations and then break into rotating smaller groups where they can raise questions and offer ideas to members of the task force.

The parking task force, led by council member Leticia Fraga, is comprised of Princeton residents and business owners and was commissioned early in the summer.

It has been developing some core principles upon which a new permit parking plan can be based and will present its recommendations to the council early in the new year, Fraga said.

The goal is to promote a fairer, more efficient system that can accommodate the competing demands of residents, guests, downtown employees, and high school students, Fraga said.

"An expanded permitting system can help normalize on-street overnight and daytime parking regulations for residents, increasing parking capacity while recognizing the challenges and priorities of individual neighborhoods," Fraga said.

The task force would also like to develop a plan for optimizing the use of underutilized pay parking spots and maximizing off-street parking options.

Formalizing a visitor permit program to accommodate guests is also on the agenda.

The task force is also collecting feedback from residents and businesses via online surveys that can be found on the princeotnnj.gov website. Locals are asked to fill out the relevant survey and come out next week to hear about the task force’s work and to make your priorities known.

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