Residents of midtown North Bergen will hopefully have an easier time finding parking after returning home from work now that the town’s permit parking has been expanded.
Robert Baselice, executive director of the North Bergen Parking Authority, said the agency started to receive a “more than usual” amount of calls recently from residents in the middle of town complaining about their parking woes.
These complaints, combined with information the department garnered from surveys sent to residents, led the township to decide that their residential parking permit program had to be expanded in midtown.
“One we put it in place, there were parking spaces available.” – Robert Baselice
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Baselice said parking problems exist in the area partly due to commuters, who park in town and then travel into New York City, leaving their vehicles and limiting the parking prospects for residents.
He said that he once had a similar problem in downtown North Bergen until a resident parking zone was created.
“One we put it in place, there were parking spaces available,” said Baselice.
Need permit
According to the new rules, only residents with resident permits or visitors with a daily or monthly permit tags can park in the zone between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.
There is a two-hour parking limit for non-residents from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. – which should keep commuters from taking local parking spaces – and anyone can park in the zone with no restrictions from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.
A permit costs a resident $15 and expires in March 2013, while daily visitor passes are $2 and a monthly pass is $30.
Baselice said that a visitor needs documentation proving they are here to visit someone from North Bergen. Or a resident can get a permit on behalf of a visitor.
Expanding the program
Baselice said there are two more zones in North Bergen that will eventually have residential parking laws as well.
He hopes that one zone will run from 54th to 70th Streets, and the second from 70th Street to the Bergen County border, both from the west side of Kennedy Boulevard.
Baselice said the Parking Authority will most likely expand to its two last zones in a year and a half, but that the expansion is contingent on the Parking Authority relocating. A few months ago, North Bergen began foreclosure proceedings on a vacant TD Bank at 4223 Bergen Turnpike. They hope to move the Municipal Court and Parking Authority to the location.
Until then, Baselice said that they cannot handle “that many people coming into this office” for permits.
For more information, visit the NBPA’s website at www.nbpaonline.org.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.