The Township had painted parking space lines, which provide designated spots, but also reduce the overall number of cars that can park along the road. They were placed along the roadway between Prospect and Valley streets.
This is, of course, because the painted spaces take up more room than some cars require, thus reducing space for some vehicles.
We asked the Township why this was done and received this email from Mayor Vic Deluca:
It is part of our safety efforts around Tuscan School. In addition to delineating legal parking, the stalls shrink the road and serve to reduce traffic speeds, particularly at critical times on the morning and afternoon.
Township Administrator Joseph Manning also emailed:
The Township received multiple complaints about cars speeding on Tuscan and traffic calming was an initiative the Mayor wanted us to address. The striped parking areas act not only as a delineator for parking (helps prevent cars from hanging over too far blocking driveways) it acts as a traffic calming measure that reduces the speed of cars by reducing the overall driving lane width. I believe the only loss in parking would be cars that previously “squeezed” into spaces at the expense of hanging over too far or leaving less than minimal space between cars. The parking spaces were designed in accordance with NJAC 5:21 Residential Site Improvement Standards.
The Township plans another change next week when it will consider an ordinance that would limit parking in those spaces to two hours. This is a response to what the Township says are commuters parking in the new spaces all day as they head to work.
That meeting is set for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Maplewood Police Headquarters on Springfield Avenue.
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