Attorney Paul Mills requested the town take a leadership role on the parking issue
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – The town manager plans to send a letter to the university stressing the need for safe, accessible centralized parking for students.

At the selectmen’s request, he’ll also ask them to consider restoring some now grassy parking areas.

There is a parking crunch downtown and some of the areas designated for municipal use are being used by students attending classes at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Selectmen listened Tuesday to attorney Paul Mills as he spoke about the need for more accessible, safe, visible centralized parking for students. He said the college students he knows are concerned about the issue as well as townspeople.

Mills said he had spoken to the university trustees about parking concerns on Thursday, about 18 hours before a student lot on Front Street flooded.

The university has since closed the lot to parking this school year.

Mills requested the town take a leadership role on the parking issue. He said the two entities should be working together.

Town Manager Richard Davis said he had been talking with Bob Thompson from Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments about applying for a community development planning grant to do a comprehensive parking study in Farmington.

Davis said he would check with the college to see if it would join in the study.

Selectmen’s Chairman Mary Wright agreed with Mills.

Not only do the students need a safe and accessible parking area, she also noted along with Mills that students are parking in downtown spaces that are designated for municipal and business use.

“There is a lot of green space that didn’t used to be,” Wright said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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