Downtown 2-hour parking limit rankles apartment resident

Mike Budlong says Milton's new downtown parking policy will be a hardship for his family and his business. (Lebanon Voice photo)

MILTON - It's not the Christmas present Mike Budlong had in mind: news that the town of Milton would implement a two-hour time limit on downtown parking.

As a brand new resident of an apartment at 547 White Mountain Highway, Budlong thought he would be able to park in front of his residence, where he lives with his wife and two young sons.

"So I couldn't park in front of my own place?" he wondered aloud outside his door Friday as cars whizzed through the downtown.

The new town policy, approved unanimously by selectmen on Monday and set to take effect Jan. 1, would restrict parking to two hours between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

There would be no restrictions beyond those hours and would be enforced seven days a week.

Meanwhile, the apartments come with no dedicated off-street parking, leaving only a small community parking lot across the street just south of Milton Garage's outside lot.

Budlong estimates that the community lot could probably hold 15 cars, but space is tight plus there are several cars in the lot that aren't even registered.

He also said he had safety concerns for pedestrians and motorists with the added traffic from tenants shuttling back and forth between parking spaces in front of their apartments and the community lot.

"We have enough traffic," he said. "Now you're gonna have parked cars going in and out of traffic."

Discussion over the issue began earlier this month after Selectman Andy Rawson said parking problems had increasingly plagued Pizza Nook.

After a short discussion a motion to limit the four spots in front of the eatery to 45 minutes passed unanimously, however Milton Police Chief Richard Krauss told the board it would be impossible to enforce the policy due to manpower. He also said it could begin a chain reaction for other business owners to want to unilaterally adopt similar restrictions.

After much discussion, it was decided to adopt a downtown-wide public parking ordinance with a two-hour time limit, a policy Krauss said his officers could more easily enforce.

The parking spots affected go all the way from the area of Veterans Park to Depot Road.

While the new ordinance may free up Pizza Nook parking places at dinner time, it didn't sit well with Budlong, who does remodeling work for Anthony's Finishing Touches and New England Church Restoration.

"Some days I'm sitting right here working and then I have to go. Now I'll have to be going back and forth (to the lot)," he said. "It's almost not worth us staying here."

The amount of the fine for violators has yet to be determined.