With Thanksgiving coming up, that also means the winter overnight street parking ban will soon begin in Watertown, but this year drivers will have to move their vehicles earlier from some parking lots.
On Monday night, the School Committee officially approved a change to the hours people can park in school parking lots.
The rule change was made so that the lots will be ready for the opening of school, said School Committee member Eileen Hsu-Balzer.
“It used to be you had to clear cars by 7 a.m., now it is 6 a.m.,” Hsu-Balzer said. “The reason they need to move by 7 a.m. is students are already arriving at school and the plows have not had the opportunity to work on the lot.”
School Committee Chair John Portz said he expects that people will comp
\[=-lain about the new hours.
The change actually came from the Watertown Police Department, said Superintendent Dede Galdston, who noted the new hours for school lots were included in Police Chief Michael Lawn’s announcement about the parking ban sent out in late October.
Watertown Winter Parking Ban Dates Announced by Police Chief
While the time to leave school lots has changed, the time vehicles must leave (or start paying to park) other municipal lots remains at 7 a.m. These include the one behind the Library or the lot near CVS.
Town Council President and School Committee member Mark Sideris said he wonders who will enforce the new hours at the schools.
“If the police are busy during a storm they are not going to be able to enforce it,” Sideris said.