Diagonal parking at Hamlin House

SHARON — At the Feb. 14 meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Elizabeth Hall, an alternate member of the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), spoke to the selectmen about P&Z concerns regarding parking on Upper Main Street in front of the Hamlin House. “We are recommending that you, as a board, look into instituting diagonal parking and that at the same time you consider making that section of Upper Main Street one-way southbound,” Hall said. P&Z and the Sharon Green Preservation Association are also concerned that automobiles parking on Upper Main Street encroach on the town Green and are damaging it.Hall said there is an office in Hamlin House that generates fairly high traffic and parking has been a problem. “There are certain days people come to the offices at Hamlin House and are unable to find parking.”Hall said there is enough space in front of Hamlin House to meet current regulations for diagonal parking. While a proposed map showed space for nine 45-degree parking spaces, P&Z felt eight spaces were more realistic.The Sharon Green Preservation Association would be willing to install boulders or other deterrents to prevent automobiles from parking on the Green in that area.Hall said current regulations require one-way traffic in areas with diagonal parking. First Selectman Robert Loucks said, “I was on the phone with the state Department of Transportation today, and parking is totally up to the Board of Selectmen, so we can vote on that. But anything to do with a change in the direction of the traffic or signage, speed limits or that sort of thing, we have to go back to the DOT to get permission, even on town roads.”Selectman Meg Szalewicz made a motion that the board institute diagonal parking in front of Hamlin House at this time and look into the one-way traffic situation with the Department of Transportation. The motion was approved.

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