Main Street in Lake Placid is seen here on June 19. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid Village Board of Trustees fielded questions and comments on the proposed extension of parking enforcement hours in the village during a half-hour-long public hearing on Monday.

The board did not vote on the changes that evening due to the absence of trustees Marc Galvin and Andrew Quinn. While a quorum was present, Mayor Art Devlin said he preferred for Galvin and Quinn to hear what was said at the public hearing before taking the proposal to a vote.

Public comments generally veered away from the proposed parking enforcement hours themselves and instead focused on the board’s reasoning behind the changes — namely, keeping Main Street business owners and workers from parking on Main Street in the evenings in the hope of encouraging more parking turnover during dinner service hours. A number of residents also spoke about a perceived uptick in parking tickets being issued on Main Street.

Proposal

At its June 17 meeting, the village board discussed extending metered parking hours in the village. Currently, enforcement hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The board is looking to extend these hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and from 1 to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Board members have said that the primary goal behind these changes is to turn over high-demand parking spots on Main Street more quickly, preventing people from pulling in around 4 or 5 p.m., paying for only an hour or two of parking and then for the rest of the evening while they work a shift.

Devlin said at Monday’s hearing.

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Annual permits

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Most residents in attendance said that they understood the need for paid parking in the village in terms of the revenue it generates, which averages $425,000 to $475,000 a year, according to village Treasurer Mindy Goddeau. Around half of parking revenue goes back toward maintaining the village’s parking lots and spots, while the rest goes into the village’s general fund.

Resident Christina Karl was among a group of people who did not necessarily oppose the proposed extended hours and the extra revenue they would generate. She said her biggest concern are locals’ parking options, such as the $200 annual parking permit for Main Street residents and employees, and how these options are executed and enforced.

Karl said.

The annual parking permit allows permit holders to park in designated permitted lots and spots around Main Street. The Lake Placid Police Department has sold 202 parking permits as of Tuesday. Police Chief Chuck Dobson said that the department’s last parking audit in 2023 counted 116 permit parking spots.

Justin McGiver, a village resident and realtor at Berkshire Hathaway Adirondack Premier Properties, said that he’ll park in annual permit spots on the days where he knows he’ll be in the office all day. But, if it’s a day where he has to run in and out a lot, due to the nature of his job, he typically has to opt for a metered spot, as they’re much closer to his office. Other times, he said permit spots will be taken by people without permits. He asked for in ticketing.

he said.

Devlin said parking has long been a problem on Main Street, which the permits are meant to alleviate.

he said.

McGiver asked.

Devlin said.

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Resident passes

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North Elba resident Ellen Collins said that she recently parked on Main Street to run into a business and pick up her takeout order, and by the time she returned to her car, she was ticketed.

she asked.

Resident parking passes are different from the annual permits. They are free to all residents of Lake Placid and North Elba and allow passholders to park in metered spots from 8 to 11 a.m. at no charge.

Collins said.

Devlin said the board is The village recently instated free 15-minute parking for people who need to run quick errands on Main Street. People wishing to take advantage of their free 15 minutes must still go to a meter and punch in their plate number for the meter to dispense the 15 minutes, however — and as of Tuesday, the feature does not work on the Flowbird app.

Devlin said.

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Parking tickets

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North Elba resident Sean Donovan said that there seems to be an uptick in unfairly issued parking tickets lately.

he said. “It seems in the last few weeks, it’s been almost a competition between these people writing tickets, and they’re writing people for minutes over their limit or, again, when there’s no need to. When it’s busy and it’s crowed and there’s no spots, absolutely write tickets. I have no problem with that. But when there’s nobody else there, I think it’s in bad taste.

he added.

McGiver, who works on Main Street, said that he and his coworkers have regarding parking enforcement.

McGiver said.

In other instances, he said, people in his office who’ve paid to park all day will have their parking expire between 5:50 p.m. and the end of enforcement at 6 p.m. and still receive a ticket.

he said.

Richard Smith, another resident, said that when he tried to park across the street from the North Elba Town Hall to attend the 4:45 p.m. hearing, the meter was out of order. He said that he hoped he wouldn’t get ticketed while attending the hearing.

Village police chief Dobson said on Tuesday that, while he didn’t have the numbers on hand, there has been an increase in parking tickets issued recently. He said this is due to the fact that the village has hired two more parking enforcement officers.

he said.

Now that the police department is able to enforce metered parking all week, the number of tickets has increased accordingly, Dobson said.

Part-time parking enforcement officer David Lally attended the hearing. While offering his comments, he said that there’s between when a car’s paid parking has expired and when officers decide to ticket. He added that the meters will glitch and say they’re out of order if a customer inserts their credit card before they’re prompted.

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Main Street business owners

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Isabella Celeste, a resident and Main Street business owner, said that the village’s parking policies are not doing them favors with locals.

she said.

She suggested that the village board consider new ways to offer free parking to locals or adopt a seasonal charging schedule. She also suggested that be issued instead of abruptly ticketing somebody who hasn’t had the chance to pay yet.

Main Street business owner Skender Cucunjanin said that if the board is concerned about building the village’s workforce, it needs to

Cecunjanin said.

Devlin said.

Devlin added.

The village board is expected to continue its discussion of extending parking enforcement hours at a later workshop or meeting, Devlin said. Its next workshop is at 4:30 p.m. on July 9 at the North Elba Town Hall, and its next meeting is at 5 p.m. on July 15 at the North Elba Town Hall.