Milton to consider downtown parking meters

Milton Town Council will discuss the appointment of a new parking committee that will be responsible for developing an implementation plan for proposals to create metered parking in the downtown commercial area.

The seven-person committee will be appointed during the council meeting at 6:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 11, at Milton library. The committee would be chaired by Councilwoman Lee Revis-Plank, who also chaired an ad hoc parking committee that came up with a report in 2022 that recommended using the ParkMobile parking app within downtown.

The ad hoc committee’s proposal said the main objectives for using ParkMobile are freeing up high-value parking in the central business district and ensuring more turnover of spots, as well as ensuring the town at least breaks even on the costs and benefits of maintaining parking downtown. 

To improve parking downtown, the town has already enacted two recommendations from the committee: clearly delineating spaces by repainting the street and curb markings, and making remote parking more convenient, particularly for major events. For example, events like Bargains on the Broadkill or Holly Fest, planned and run by the chamber of commerce, have featured shuttle bus service, where visitors can park at Dogfish Head or H.O. Brittingham Elementary School and be bused into downtown. 

A third recommendation was metered parking. ParkMobile was recommended as a carrier given the company’s use in other nearby towns, including Lewes, Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach.

Under the proposal the new parking committee will consider, ParkMobile would be installed in the municipal lot on Magnolia Street, in the spaces on Union Street from Chandler Street to Front Street and along Federal Street from Front Street to Mill Street. Daily metering would run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a one-hour minimum of $2 per hour and a two-hour maximum. 

The proposal also calls for a second parking zone that would be permit parking, and would include Broad Street and along Mill Street. While the exact total for a permit still needs to be worked out, the proposal calls for selling annual permits for $50 or weekly permits for $1. Violations would incur a fine of $20. 

Finally, the proposal calls for the rest of the town to remain unrestricted and free, with some spots delineated to ensure residents can back out of their driveways. 

To enforce the new parking standards, the town would hire a parking enforcement officer, using a handheld device to check that cars are paid, similar to what already exists in towns like Rehoboth. 

Once established, the new parking committee would also help develop short-term and long-term parking goals, examine parking-related expenses and create a parking map that would be distributed to businesses to provide to customers.