meeting the local definition of low income. Several cities have considered, but have not yet implemented,
a rate structure that applies a slide scale to the cost of each permit relative to the applicant's reported
income. A variation of this structure is in place at the University of Connecticut which charges employees
and faculty for annual parking permits based on income.
PRACTICES IN COMPARABLE COMMUNITIES
In conjunction with leadership in the Nashua Economic Development, DESMAN identified ten
communities which were considered comparable to Nashua and/or aspirational. In evaluating
communities, DESMAN considered factors such as population, population density, housing density,
median income and the percentage of workers reporting they drove alone each day (“driving share”.)
Three of the communities studied were in New Hampshire and six were located in New England states.
The communities studied are shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Comparable and Aspirational Communities Studied
City: Noshua Albany AnnArbor Concord Concord Manchester Meridian Portland Portsmouth Rochester West Hartford
State: NH NY Mi NC NH NH ID ME NK MN cT
Population: 88,815 97,889 117,082 91,980 43,244 112,673 101,905 66,735 21,778 145,557 63,063
Area: {sq mi) 31.73 21.94 28.79 63.54 63.90 34.94 34.03 69.44 16.82 55.69 22,30
Pop. Density: “2,719.9 4,506.84 4,297.59 1,517.13 688.30 3,406.59 3,360.74 3,059.92 1,400.28 2,146.69 2,888.90
Housing Units: 37,168 46,362 50,863 36,101 18,663 49,288 43,043 34,075 10,615 49,757 26,437
Housing Density: 1,202.8 2,166.40 1,824.70 568.16 252.07 1,493.60 1,206.08 1,581.60 678.90 893.46 1,385.52
Medianincome: $73,022 $45,500 $63,596 $83,957 $62,967 $58,227 $75,515 $56,977 $78,027 $73,016 $104,281
Driving Share: 80.1% 59.1% 53.2% 80.4% 79.5% 78.7% 82.0% 64.6% 74.7% 70.6% 82.9%
DESMAN initially evaluated each of these communities according to their basic policies regarding
authorization for overnight parking (“O.P.”). Specifically, BESMAN examined each community’s codes and
ardinances to determine of the municipality:
Had a blanket prohibition on overnight parking on public streets.
Allowed for parking on public streets during overnight hours by permit.
Had instituted a Residential Parking Permit (RPP) program to manage on-street parking.
Did not have any rules or regulations specific to the issue of overnight parking on public streets.
As shown in Table 3 on the next page of the ten communities examined only West Hartford, Connecticut
had a blanket prohibition on overnight parking including in their code of ordinances.
In Albany, New York, an individual can park for free on downtown public streets between 5:00 PM and
8:00 AM the follawing day on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays, but must purchase permit
to park in one of the Albany Parking Authority’s off-street facilities.
While the other communities did not prohibit overnight parking per se, there were regulations within
each community’s codes regulating parking on-street in some manner. For example, Concord, New
Hampshire prohibited the parking of any commercial vehicle on public streets between midnight and 5:00
AM and required persona! vehicles parked on street to not stay in one place for more than 48 consecutive
hours. Rochester, Minnesota allows overnight parking on public streets without a permit, but requires
vehicles to park only on the even numbered side of the streets on even numbered days and the odd
numbered side of the street on odd numbered days between 2:00 AM and 3:00 PM from October 1 to
May 1 each year. The City of Manchester, New Hampshire has a code on their books which suggests that
overnight parking was banned on public streets until 2011, when the prohibition was rescinded.
