The Ridgefield Parking authority has raised fines for people who park in fire lanes and handicap spots.
Handicapped parking horror stories helped goad the selectman to vote 4-to-0 last week to jack up the fines for illegal parking in handicapped spaces or fire lanes.
“It boggles my mind, people are so disrespectful to handicapped people,” Parking Authority Chairman Matt Hicks told the selectmen.
Fines for able-bodied people caught parking in the spaces designated for use by handicapped were increased from $86 to $150.
The fines for parking in fire zones were increased from $50 to $92.
Both were raised to the maximum allowed under state law, as recommended by the Parking Authority.
Fines for simply overstaying the posted parking time limits weren’t changed and remain $15.
Mr. Hicks related three parking stories to last Wednesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting.
“We had a request for a dismissal of a ticket,” Mr. Hicks told the selectmen.
Why?
“The handicapped space was the only space they could find with shade for their dog,” Mr. Hicks said.
Another time one of the enforcement officers who writes parking tickets kept a close eye on handicapped spaces on a rainy day. The result was more than $600 worth of citations.
“People didn’t want to get wet,” Mr. Hicks said.
Mr. Hicks’ third story involved a fire lane violation that he said he’d witnessed himself. He shared it in an interview last Tuesday, and told it again at the selectmen’s meeting that Wednesday night.
“I sat and watched a woman park in a fire lane, leaving the vehicle running — it’s a $130,000 automobile — go into a store for 15 minutes, return to the vehicle, put her purchases in, and go to another store,” Mr. Hicks said.
The small group who discussed parking at the selectmen’s meeting seemed generally supportive of the proposed fine increases, which the seletmen approved unanimously.
But there were some related concerns discussed.
“I don’t know if the issue is the level of fines, or we don’t write enough tickets,” Selectman Andy Bodner said.
“I’d like to take a look at the people who have those stickers,” he added, “who shouldn’t have those stickers.”
There was talk that Connecticut gives out “permanent” handicapped stickers, which could remain in circulation and be misused. But Sharon Dornfeld, the town’s hearing officer for parking violations, said that’s changed.
“As of last year they are time-limited,” she said. “Everybody’s supposed to go back in.”
“I’m all for having the maximum,” Carleen Addessi Baer, a village property owner, said of the fines. “But will you be putting a sign where the handicapped parking is?”
First Selectman Rudy Marconi said the town could look into the cost of adding signs.
Ms. Baer agreed the primary goal should be to make sure handicapped people have a good places to park.
“But a secondary goal is to make sure our tenants and customers don’t have a bad feeling about getting a ticket,” she said, “and not come back to shop.”