By Brett Yates
Earlier this month, the Chittenden Select Board approved a motion to start giving out $50 tickets to illegally parked cars on Wildcat Road. The town’s road foreman had already ordered signs that would warn drivers not to leave their cars in the roadway.
“People go up there to go cross-country skiing, and they park in the road, and the plow trucks can’t get by,” Road Commissioner Dave Sargent said. “If the plow truck can’t get by, probably the ambulance and the fire truck can’t get by.”
But municipal government in Vermont isn’t so simple. When local officials contacted the Pittsford Police Dept., which Chittenden contracts for patrol services, they learned that towns can’t enforce parking regulations unless they’ve adopted a parking ordinance.
“They can give warnings right now, but they can’t actually give tickets, and they can’t actually tow anyone,” Select Board Chair Kathie Pratt said.
When a municipality adopts an ordinance, it must post the text “in at least five conspicuous places” and publish it (or “a concise summary”) in a local newspaper, according to state law. It takes effect after 60 days — unless residents gather signatures in opposition from 5% of local voters, in which case it goes to a townwide vote.
Chittenden officials have not yet drafted an ordinance, but Select Board members agreed informally on Feb. 24 to get started on one. They expect it to name each town road in which parking restrictions will apply, and Wildcat Road may not be the only one.
“We have to decide how far we want to go,” Pratt said.
