You may have to pay for parking in Clifton. Here’s why

Abuses of long-term parking spots in Clifton have led city officials to explore adding parking meters and requiring drivers to pay to park in city-owned lots.

On Tuesday, the City Council approved a proposal to add the meters in hopes that time limits would free up more parking spots for shoppers. Currently more than half of the spots have 48-hour limits, and drivers are choosing to pay a ticket rather than move their cars.

“People leave their car for two or three days,” City Manager Nick Villano told the council.

The Clifton police traffic division asked the city administration to address the ongoing abuse, police officials said.

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Of the 836 parking spots spread among 18 city lots, more than 500 are 48-hour spaces, Villano said. The remainder are two-hour spaces.

“That has to change,” he said.

While the city is still exploring how to implement the meters, the council is looking at kiosks strategically placed in parking lots, rather than individual meters.

“This came at the request of business owners,” Villano told council members. “It is an inconvenience to them. They have to leave every two hours to move their cars.”

He said kiosks would cost about $7,000 each and operate without coins, allowing drivers to pay at the kiosk or via an app on their phones. It is unclear how many kiosks would be needed.

Meters could help congestion

Parking meters date back to 1935.

The parking meter dates back to 1935, when the first ones were installed in Oklahoma City. They were not necessarily intended to provide income but to ensure the turnover of parking spaces.

Former Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi said he can’t recall in his 50-year involvement in local politics that the city ever had meters.

For Councilman Bill Gibson, paid parking may be the right move, especially in the city’s more congested areas, such as Botany Village.

“This could take care of some of the complaints in the Botany area, particularly for those who complain they cannot find parking at night,” Gibson said.

“But we are going to have to work it out,” he added.

For instance, he could see some of the parking being dedicated to business owners, but added that it is something that will have to be discussed.

Other parking measures adopted

The City Council also adopted a measure that provides more stringent enforcement to address illegal overnight parking, also at the request of the Police Department.

The new law allows police to tow commercial vehicles like tractor-trailers that have been parking illegally overnight on streets including Getty and Crooks avenues.

The concern is that more commercial vehicle drivers are parking overnight on city streets and are all too willing to take the ticket and pay a $50 fine. In upping the ante, the hope is to deter overnight parking.

Police officials said this is in reaction to neighbors Paterson and Passaic stiffening their overnight parking laws.

File photo of a parking ticket on a car State Street in Passaic near the Passaic Police Department Parking lot.

Earlier this year, Passaic created resident-only parking for streets on its east side, citing a parking shortage.

Passaic Mayor Hector Lora said out-of-city residents were parking on the street and walking across the bridge, making it difficult for city residents to park.

Gibson said Clifton is seeing more out-of-town residents parking, too.

It’s about time

For residents like Gary Perino, increased penalties are overdue.

He told the council that in July, a 53-foot tractor-trailer was parked on Mount Prospect Avenue for four days, and he had a hard time getting police to respond.

“I am very happy you’re finally addressing the tractor-trailer problem,” Perino said. But he hopes law enforcement will put some muscle behind it.

“I just hope there is going to be some bite and some follow-up,” he said.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Clifton NJ parking meters? They may be coming. Here’s why