Matter tabled while police chief gathers video, drone footage 

By Theresa Knapp

At its meeting on July 29, the Milford Select Board considered amendments to the town’s current traffic parking regulations, at the recommendation of Police Chief Robert Tusino in collaboration with the office of Town Administrator Richard Villani. 

“We’ve been working on this quite some time, this isn’t something we just shot from the hip,” said Tusino. “In my opinion, the only way to mitigate certain problems is to just eliminate parking on the side of the street” on the first list proposed to the board. 

Tusino noted they have divided the town into sections, and this is the first area on which they are concentrating. 

The discussion centered around the following streets: Grove Street, High Street, Jefferson Street, Lee Street, Madden Avenue, Memory Lane, North Bow Street, Pearl Street, School Street, South High Street, South Bow Street, South Richard Street, State Street, Union Street, West Maple Street, and West Spruce Street. 

“What we tried to take into effect was pedestrian traffic, the proximity to stop signs, intersections, the side of the road that had the least amount of driveways…We didn’t just throw a dart at a board and come up with these regulations, a lot of time and effort went into this,” said Tusino, who was seeking input from the board. 

Select Board Chairman Michael Walsh said he appreciated the expand the initial focus to prioritize trouble spots like Hayward Street. 

Select Board member Tom O’Loughlin said, “I think residents should be able to park in front of their own home,” and asked, “Are we just taking the problem from Street A and moving it to Street B?”

Select Board member Paul Mazzuchelli said, “This is long overdue. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t get a complaint from someone about parking and the dangerousness of it…Again, the way they made streets back then, they didn’t make them for five or six cars per family, and now parking on both sides makes this even worse, I think.” 

Mazzuchelli urged the town to continue reviewing parking issues, especially in areas where an emergency vehicle would have trouble getting by because “it’s precious moments, seconds, that could keep someone alive or not; and for them just to have the convenience to park in front of their house doesn’t really cut it when it comes to health and safety.” 

Tusino said, “The only reason this even comes up is because I answer to the public like you do…We’re trying to answer complaints and to be responsive to the citizenry.” 

After a 20-minute discussion, the issue was tabled while officials gather photos, video and drone footage for a future meeting.