Council advances residential parking-permit zone after heavy storm; mayor updates council on $3M parking-deck funding effort

The City Council moved to set Ordinance 28 (amendments to residential parking permits, Chapter 295) for a second and final reading after staff described the mapped area along the Clifton border and explained eligibility and visitor-permit rules. The business administrator said the ordinance is meant to reserve overnight on-street spaces for Passaic residents in a small delineated area and noted that one visitor permit per household would be available. "Only Passaic residents overnight would be allowed to park in this area," the administrator said.

Councilors described repeated complaints of overflow parking from neighboring Clifton during a recent storm that dropped over 20 inches of snow and questioned whether the problem was storm-related or longer-running. Council members asked about eligibility (drivers with New Jersey licenses who live in the household), visitor passes and whether business or commercial vehicles would be allowed; staff said visitor permits can be applied for and that policy options for limited commercial access are being explored.

During the mayoral report, the mayor said the city has received $3,000,000 toward a proposed parking deck for the Dayton Avenue complex. He said the city previously applied for $15,000,000 and had a separate prior award of $4,000,000 that could not be repurposed; the current $3,000,000 "gets the conversation moving" but would not fully fund construction. The administration described a target of roughly 400 spaces for the Dayton Avenue deck and said engineering and cost-per-space calculations informed that target; staff also said they are collecting occupancy and revenue data for the existing deck and plan to present fuller reports by June.

Officials also raised operations concerns after the recent storm: the mayor and staff described strain on DPW equipment and workers, explained an in-house truck fire during extended operations and said vehicle and salt shortages required borrowing and contracting to clear streets. Council members pressed for data on existing-deck occupancy and asked staff to continue refining cost and demand studies before finalizing grant applications.

Next steps: Ordinance 28 was set down for second reading (date specified in the agenda). The administration will continue to gather parking-deck occupancy data, refine applications for state/federal funds and follow up on implementation details for the residential-permit program.