LIVERMORE FALLS – Business owners in the Nason Block on Depot Street told selectmen Monday that after two parking spots were eliminated near a sharp corner at Depot and Main streets, trucks are going faster around the corner.
“It’s a safety issue,” they said.
Selectman Russell Flagg agreed it was a safety issue because tractor-trailer truck drivers need the room to negotiate the corner, which is also Route 17, and stay in their lane.
The 90-degree corner is in front of the Chuck Wagon Restaurant, the Municipal Building and the Nason Block, which includes business such as Copies Etc., the Empty Hangar and Just A Hair off the Bridge.
Jody Dufour, owner of the hair salon, said one customer’s vehicle was struck, and pointed out that since the two spaces in front of the Nason Block were eliminated, the one near her shop is the first parking spot.
The town is trying to revitalize the downtown area and parking spaces are being eliminated, Dufour said.
She said there is a limited number of parking spaces on the streets and no spaces for disabled people.
Selectmen Chairman Kenny Jacques said that some employees of businesses who had parked on the street all day now park their vehicles in the back of the buildings, which opens up more spaces for customers.
What the issue is, Jacques said, is whether it is safer with the parking spaces or without them.
The problem used to be on the other side of the street near the Chuck Wagon, and those spaces have been eliminated, town highway foreman Denis Castonguay said.
Dufour said the speed limit should be dropped from 25 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour.
Former selectman and resident Clayton Putnam said that getting the speed lowered to 15 on a state highway would take an act of Congress.
Suggestions included more signs and more police enforcement.
“It’s a mess,” Jacques said. “People don’t stop for people in crosswalks.”
The Empty Hangar owner Carol Pauley said what scares her the most is the trucks coming so close to the third parking space, which is now the first parking space on that side of Depot Street.
Selectman Michael Collins said, “You can put in as many signs as you want and people don’t have to listen.”
Selectmen asked Police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. to have his officers enforce the “no parking” and speed limits in that area.
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