RUMFORD — The Select Board has approved some overnight parking areas in the downtown, an amendment to the town’s new winter parking ban.

At its meeting Dec. 17, the board voted 4-0 in favor of designating overnight spaces on Canal Street between Exchange and Hartford streets, where cars will be allowed to park on non-storm nights in the winter. Board member Frank DiConzo was absent for the vote.

The winter parking ordinance approved by residents in June prohibited parking on any public street or right of way from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., effective from Nov. 1 to April 15, regardless of whether there is snow. The ban is separate from any specific storm bans that might be called. Vehicles in violation may be ticketed and towed at the owner’s expense.

The town has a history of making exceptions to parking ban polices, according to Town Manager George O’Keefe.

“Understand that this parking ban, as it has been implemented in the past, has never been universally maintained,” O’Keefe reminded the board prior to the vote. “You have very solid ground, as the practices of select boards previously, to make exceptions on an as-needed basis on specific street circumstances. There’s lots of history of it, and it’s well documented.”

At the board’s Dec. 4 meeting, they discussed the lack of parking on The Island, the business district, and Friday and Saturday nights when the Hotel Rumford on Canal Street is operating the bar two hours beyond the 11 p.m. ban.

“We do last call at 12:45 (a.m.) and by 1:15 (a.m.) people have to be out of our establishment,” said David Pilgrim, owner of Hotel Rumford. “And generally, we try to be out of there by 1:30 unless it’s a busy night, like Thanksgiving, when it goes a bit later. But it’s just employees’ cars.”

“”During a snowstorm, we’ll make sure there’s no vehicles there,” he said.

Pilgrim added that within the next few weeks, they will be opening the hotel’s eight rooms for overnight stays. That may bring up further questions about where those guests will park on a night-to-night basis.

“We have no problem utilizing a public parking lot when there is a snowstorm,” he said. “I’m trying to generate as much revenue for those rooms as possible.”