Here's what's behind Clifton's shortage of parking and how officials plan to fix it

CLIFTON — The city's parking problems are getting worse.

Residents are complaining to officials regularly about general citywide parking issues as well as those specific to their neighborhoods.

Located in the southern part of Passaic County, the city's parking issues are not new, but officials said they are trying to find solutions to the problem.

As the 89,000-resident city continues to be developed and additional housing built, residents are asking their elected leaders to fix the problem and fix it quickly.

Behind Clifton's parking problems

The reasons for the city's parking problems vary, depending on the area.

In the downtown and business areas, shoppers compete for parking spots with overnight parkers.

On residential streets, changes in parking permits and parking time limits have resulted in a blitz of parking tickets from the city's police. Some complain that commercial vehicles park and are not moved for months at a time.

In the Richfield section, residents who live near the Islamic Center of Clifton have been complaining for years that a lack of parking spots at the center causes worshippers to park on residential streets. Residents have complained at City Council meetings that worshippers park on both sides of the road, leaving a tight single lane where only one vehicle can get through at a time. The residents say those visiting the center block driveways and park in illegal spaces, such as those too close to the street corners.

The city has tried a few solutions for the Richfield section, but nothing has worked and things are getting worse, say residents.

Recently the city's Economic Development Committee held a meeting to discuss a potential expansion of the Islamic Center. In response, Richfield residents hired attorney Thomas Milani to represent them if the project progresses to the next phase.

"It is evident that (parking around the mosque) has destroyed the way of life of people around here," Milani said.

Residents said they are told the mosque may be expanded to be three stories tall. The expansion plan given to the city's Economic Development Committee shows that parking needs and the amount of worshippers are expected to double if the plan is approved.

The center has a permitted occupancy of 500. The center was once a small church with about 70 parking spaces.

Muslims pray five times a day — at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset and evening.

Area residents say the worst days for parking are Fridays around noon when worshippers begin to arrive.

Muslim worshippers will frequent the nearest mosque available to them at prayer time, making it difficult to predict how many people will attend a service, the center's Imam Osamah Salhia said.

More: Once St. Mary's Hospital, apartment building sells for $64 million. How it helps Passaic

City officials said they are working with the Islamic Center's leadership to find a solution.

Possible solutions include adding a parking garage, limiting street parking and allowing cars to park on the grass, but no permanent one has been found.

More people, cars and households

Census figures show the city's population increased by about 10,000 in the last decade, which means lots more cars.

When many of the city's homes were built, there were few cars. In 1960 fewer than 60% of all households had more than one car and about 20% had none.

By 2022, U.S. census figures show almost 60% of households own two or more vehicles. The same census figures have the number of households in the city increasing by 7,000 units between 1960 and 2020.

While many residents park their vehicles in private driveways, that's not possible in some of the city's sections, such as Botany and the downtown area. There, multi-family homes do not have private driveways or if they do, it's enough for just one vehicle.

City Manager Nick Villano said a survey of parking spots put the number of city-owned public spaces at about 830, but of those, more than 500 allow up to 48 hours of parking.

"These are spaces that are needed for the retailers in the area," Villano said.

He's recommending the city council remove most if not all of the 48-hour spaces.

Parking solutions for Clifton

One of the city's solutions for a parking shortage has been to require parking permits on some streets. Streets that have permit parking require a majority of residents there to agree to it.

The number of parking permits, which were at one time thought to have no expiration date, has forced the city to reevaluate.

The city counted the parking permits it has issued up to last year and found there to be 50,000, and that did not include permits for "handicap parking."

The council passed an ordinance that required everyone to reapply for a parking permit. It significantly reduced the number of permits, city officials said.

The reapplication of permits also caused issues as residents with existing permits said they did not know of the requirement to renew the permits by Jan. 1. They learned of it when their parked vehicles were ticketed by police, they told city officials at multiple City Council meetings.

The information, officials said, was posted on the official Clifton website.

In January, 1,000 parking tickets were issued. In comparison, 100 tickets were issued in January 2020. One parking ticket was issued to Councilman Joe Kolodziej, who was parked on the street.

The cost of a typical parking ticket is about $50, and while many residents said they successfully fought for their tickets to be dismissed in municipal court, they are still railing against parking enforcement.

One McCosh Road resident told the council she replaced her parking pass and was still issued a parking violation. She said she can go to court and fight it, but why should she have to take the time to do so?

Pat Caesar, another McCosh Road resident, said she's unhappy with the changes to require permit parking between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. She said she understands the restrictions were initially undertaken to discourage Montclair State University students from parking on the street, which is no longer an issue because the university has improved campus parking. Residents say they are being ticketed at 8 a.m. and at 5 p.m.

'This is getting ridiculous," Caesar said. "You can't even have the Girl Scouts over for a meeting."

To get the restrictions removed, Villano said it has to be done by petition, where owners sign them asking for the permit parking to be removed or in the case of other sections of the city to request parking permits to be required.

Knapp Avenue resident Mary Prendergast said she has issues with commercial vehicles that often don't move for months at a time, leaving precious little space for on-street parking.

City Councilman Bill Gibson said it is time for the city to consider adding parking garages.

"I think it is time we start going up," he said. "There's no place to build out."

Gibson also said developers that want to build in the city should all be required to provide off-street parking. That could mean putting parking under new construction.

Gibson and other members of the council said they hope to get help from elected officials, including Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, to help finance these kinds of projects that will greatly enhance the local quality of life.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Here's how Clifton officials plan to fix parking shortage