Commuter Parking Changes Coming in Chappaqua

The New Castle Town Board is grappling with a number of problems with commuter parking and permits, and will hold a public hearing Nov. 4 about amending the local law on it.

Town Supervisor Rob Greenstein discussed the issues in his latest email report.

They include: people misusing their permit, parking more than one car in the commuter lot on the same day; ticketing people who forget to move their daily pass (metered permit) from car to car; and people leaving their car in the commuter lot for days at a time.

The town is considering upgrading its license plate reader to catch multiple cars parked at the train station on a single permit.

“ We absolutely realize the need to list multiple cars on a single parking pass. Commuters need the flexibility to take different cars to the commuter parking lot,” he said. “If you are parking two cars in the commuter lot on the same day, you are supposed to have TWO permits.”

Also under consideration: a way to cut down the number of tickets issued to -- and contested by -- people who forgot to move their metered permit when they switched which car they took to the station.

And, the town board is talking about creating a long term parking area so that people can take spots farther from the station if they’re going to be leaving cars overnight or for a week.

“We do have people who are using our lot as a storage facility for their cars,” he said. “And when it snows it is a problem when some are parking in the same spot for weeks at a time.”

The town is also planning to rework the fine system, including incentives to pay early, which other towns such as Scarsdale already use, and to buy new ticketing machines that will allow escalating fines and take photos of infractions.

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