April 17, 2019 by Carol Britton Meyer
The managers/owners of the much-used merchants parking lot behind The Whitney Gordon's Jewelers and other businesses in the 29 Main St. building in the heart of Hingham Square have come to an agreement with the Selectmen about the use of the lot.
This provides 12 reserved parking spots along the edges of the building for tenants and customers while allowing three-hour general parking for customers of all downtown businesses in the other spaces. Violators will be ticketed by the Hingham Police Department.
Both the lot and property are owned and managed by BJ Selenkow and her sister, Linda. The town's ability to use this private lot for muncipal parking is governed by a 2002 license agreement that requires the town to maintain it for that purpose.
"Thank you for your generosity," Selectmen Chairman Paul Healey said when issues related to the lot were discussed at the board's April 16 meeting.
The agreement can be terminated with 30 days' notice by either party. The third signatory to this agreement is Dr. Peter Kramers, who owns the building with the dentist office at 22 Central St., which is one of the ways vehicles can enter and exit the lot.
"For the past year and a half the town has been working with BJ to try to address some of her requests and concerns with respect to what she views as long overdue maintenance of the merchants lot as well as lack of parking enforcement within the lot," Asst. Town Administrator Michelle Monsegur said. "We continue to work with BJ as the private owner to try to balance the town's interest in preserving free public parking downtown with her responsibilities to her tenants as well as both parties' responsibilities under the agreement."
Other than snow removal and filling occasional potholes, no significant maintenance has been done to the lot by the town for many years. In an effort to "catch up," the town will seal the cracks and sealcoat and pave the lot this summer at the town's expense. The license with Selenkow and her sister does not include compensating the owners for use of the parking lot due to the maintenance agreement.
Older passes no longer valid
Last summer, at Selenkow's request, the town issued numbered parking placards to the five businesses occupying the 29 Main St. building, "replacing the older passes that were distributed in 2001 to members of the broader Hingham Downtown Association, many of whom have been parking in the merchants lot all day for years with the old passes," Monsegur said.
"We realize how delicate Hingham Square is," Healey said.
HDA Executive Director Lynn Barclay notified downtown businesses with the old parking passes that they were no longer valid and encouraged them to use the nearby Station Street parking area.
Selenkow followed up Barclay's efforts with more phone calls and visits to Hingham Square businesses last January.
The lot will be restriped this summer, which could result "in a few additional spaces," said Sekenkow, who attended the meeting.
In the meantime, "Permit parking only" signs have already been hung on the sides of the building indicating those spaces are restricted for tenants/new placard holders only. Stickers will be added to the present signs indicating that the spaces are reserved from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the Hingham Police will then begin enforcement.
"The placards are assigned to those businesses, not specific employees, and are meant to be shared among employees and customers who have scheduled long appointments" in one of those five shops [between those hours] without being ticketed, "Monsegur said. "Before and after those times those spaces would be open for use by tenants and customers of other businesses as well."
A warning period was suggested before ticketing begins, but Selectman Power recommended not allowing that to continue for too long or people won't take the parking limits seriously. Olsson told Selenkow after the meeting that he would increase the number of HPD police patrols in the area to keep an eye on the situation.
"I and my sister are very committed to continuing this arrangement. I see this as a win-win [solution]," Selenkow said. "We want for this lot to be used for people coming to downtown Hingham to use the services provided here and to visit the merchants. Hopefully it will work, but if it doesn't we'll [cooperate] with the town to come up with another plan."