MEXICO – Following a 60-minute public hearing Wednesday night and a confusing mix of motions, selectmen banned parking during winter storms on a section of Granite Street.

They also went on record asking Road Commissioner Dave Errington to make an extra effort to remove snow on the west side of the street in the same area – from Mitchell to Spring streets.

About a dozen Granite Street residents attended the meeting, mostly to try to persuade selectmen to reverse a previous board ruling that banned parking year round on the west side of Granite from Spring to Hill streets.

Snow removal, road plowing and parking were a few of the problems pointed out Wednesday night by town officials and residents.

During one discussion, board Chairwoman Barbara Laramee said that due to the amount of snow this winter, town plow trucks couldn’t get through that narrow section of Granite Street due to parked cars.

Errington clarified that, saying the problem was people parking their cars in their driveways, but due to the close proximity of their houses to the road, a portion of the vehicles stuck out into the road.

“The possibilities are that we can put no-parking on the whole street just for wintertime or we could hire a special crew to keep snow off the street in the winter, which nobody will go along with,” Selectman George Byam said.

Granite Street residents like Janice Lannon repeatedly asked the board to rescind its previous ruling and altogether forego a parking ban along the street. Others said inadequate snow removal was to blame.

One resident who plows the street on his end and removes snow said it was pointless to form policy based on the amount of this winter’s snowfall, which hasn’t happened for decades.

Discussion then shifted to possibly tinkering with a town ordinance before Byam motioned to ban parking on the west side of Granite from Nov. 1 through May 1 from Mitchell to Oxford streets.

Before selectmen could vote, Laramee said they first had to rescind Byam’s motion at a previous meeting that they’d enacted to ban parking year round on the street.

Selectmen next voted to table Byam’s motion on Wednesday, then Byam moved to rescind his previous meeting’s motion. It was revoked by a 2-0 vote.

During more discussion, Errington again suggested that they ban parking on the west side during winter storms only.

Byam amended his Wednesday night motion, striking the specific dates and replacing it with “during winter storms only.”

That was OK’d, then they approved the amended motion.

Then, Selectman Arthur Bordeau, who all along abstained from voting due to having a relative who lives along Granite Street, motioned to make Errington more diligently remove snow from Granite between Mitchell and Oxford streets.

That was OK’d by a 2-1 tally, with Selectman Peter Merrill the lone dissenter.

Copy the Story Link