WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Parking meters the town installed in downtown White River Junction and on Prospect Street in December may soon be turned on.
In the past year, the town has amended its ordinance and hired an enforcement officer. Now, Lori Hirshfield, Hartford’s director of planning and development, is finalizing signs to direct motorists in how to pay to park by phone. The next phase is activating the meters and informing the community of this change.
“I think it’s a possibility for summer,” said Hirshfield.
For some, the prospect of a new payment process is unwelcome.
“Nobody wanted them. We still don’t want them,” South Main Street resident John Rinaldi said of the meters Wednesday outside his home.
But town officials have said people leave their cars in downtown spots for extended periods, preventing others from using the space. The intention of the meters is to impose a two-hour limit.
“The parking meters are really the best way to help people manage themselves with time,” Hirshfield said.
While the meters have been a topic of discussion for several years, said Hirshfield, the project has faced delays due to staff turnover, the hiring process for an enforcement officer and efforts in updating the town parking ordinance last year to include meter regulations.
Hartford voters overwhelmingly rejected an article at town meeting in 2020 requesting permission to spend $160,000 of local option tax to introduce a meter parking system, 2,088 to 906.
In October 2024, the Hartford Selectboard voted unanimously to use about $145,000 of the funds the town received through the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, to purchase 16 kiosks anyway.
When they open for business, the cost to park will be $1 per hour, or 25 cents every 15 minutes, for a maximum of two hours. The meters will operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Visitors may pay with cash, by credit card or on their phone. Hirshfield added that signage in the area will provide information for how to pay online to avoid stopping at a kiosk.
Those who do not register their vehicle or who stick around too long will be subject to an $11 parking ticket from Hartford Police.
Based on calculations from last summer, the town anticipates a combined revenue of over $236,000 annually from the 210 metered parking spots.
Hirshfield, while unsure which specific town fund the revenue will supplement, said that a portion of it may go toward operational costs and part of the enforcing officer’s compensation.
Community service officer Zachary Guthrie-Lloyd, hired in March, serves as deputy town health officer and is also responsible for animal control and parking enforcement, said Lt. William Furnari, of the Hartford Police Outreach Division. Guthrie-Lloyd will be responsible for meter enforcement through use of a mobile ticketing device that prints physical tickets and can help produce a daily report.
The specific hours Guthrie-Lloyd will commit to this task is to be determined, said Furnari. Typically, he’ll walk around and run plates to make sure they’re paid up. If not, he would issue an $11 parking ticket and leave it on the driver’s windshield.
“Once Planning and Development has everything set up we will be ready for Zach to go out,” said Furnari.
The meters remain controversial among residents and business owners in town.
Sierra Edwards, who lives downtown, is not looking forward to using the meters year round when he feels the project is targeting seasonal tourism. For him, it’s also an unwelcome change in character.
“I think it ruins the vibe,” Edwards said.
Similarly, resident Sally Bellew thinks that while the meters won’t discourage people from visiting, they’ll chip away at the character of what she considers a last remaining “historical, New England railroad town.”
But Kirsten Connor, who owns Flourish Beauty Lab on North Main Street, sees the time limit as necessary, citing concerns over downtown residents parking in front of businesses without actually visiting them.
“Everybody walks in and comments that it’s so busy and there’s no place to park,” Connor said at her store Wednesday, adding that she still doesn’t support charging people to be there.
Mark Estes, who owns the Junction Frame Shop on South Main Street, sees the project as a “two-sided coin,” he said at the shop Wednesday, as it will help people move along, but with the sacrifice of free parking. Like Connor, he’s seen cars parked outside for hours on end, and thinks the meters will open more spots in front of his store.
“I have customers who have to carry their finished products half a block down,” said Estes.
