NORWAY – Selectmen unanimously approved changes to the town’s parking and traffic control ordinance Thursday night, although residents will likely not notice.

One change states that cars may not park on Main Street between Pleasant and Paris streets for longer than two hours between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Town Manager David Holt said the limit was once expanded to four hours at the request of businesses on Main Street, but the posted signs were never changed from the two-hour limit.

“The truth is, the ones we’re ticketing for parking are probably exceeding four hours, not just two,” said Chief Robert Federico of the Norway Police Department .

Another amendment brings the ordinance into compliance with state law by reducing the distance vehicles may park from a street corner from 16 feet to 10 feet. This section states that vehicles may not park beyond the white painted lines on the street and that the distance limit applies when no lines are present.

The ordinance was also updated to include roads added in subdivisions and Winter Street, which was mistakenly omitted, to a list of streets with designated parking restrictions. Marston Street’s definition was updated to ban parking on the southeast side of the street from Main Street to Beal Street.

Selectman Bruce Cook said he had received some concerns about keeping the municipal lot between Whitman and Deering streets cleared of snow.

Federico said the posted signs in that and another municipal lot request drivers to park on different sides on alternating days, causing some confusion as to which side residents parking in the lot overnight should park on. He said the rule intends to create a general pattern for other cars to follow so plows can clear one side of the lot.

“Whether you’re right and they’re all wrong, it doesn’t matter. Go with them,” he said.

Holt suggested that a new parking system might be put into place before next winter for the municipal lots.

Federico said the Highway Department typically contacts the police if a vehicle needs to be removed during snow plowing. Parking bans are posted on the town Web site and in local media. Federico said vehicles are only towed if police are unsuccessful in contacting the vehicle’s owner.

The ordinance was enacted in 1978 and was last amended in 1989.