SCARBOROUGH – After hours of meetings over several months, hostile public input and a series of amendments, Scarborough finally has implemented new parking rules for Higgins Beach. The true test of their effectiveness, however, will likely come in the summer.

The new parking rules, approved by the Town Council Jan. 19, permit a 90-foot, 5-minute drop-off zone on the ocean side of Bayview Avenue. Also allowed are a dozen one-hour parking spots from the end of the drop-off zone to Morning Street, where parking will be permitted between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. year-round. From Sept. 15 to May 1, the one-hour time limit in those spot will not be in effect.

No other parking will be permitted on Bayview Avenue, or any other street in the Higgins Beach neighborhood, except Acorn Lane, where parking is allowed from Sept. 15 to May 1 to give clammers access to the town’s clamming flats now that they can no longer access through the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge.

Parking is banned on either side of Spurwink Avenue from Pleasant Hill Road to Dorado Drive.

Much like debates during public meetings on the subject, the council’s decision drew mixed reactions from Scarborough residents.

Regina Day, who owns three properties in the Higgins Beach neighborhood, said the new restrictions are “fundamental changes in the neighborhood.”

“I think lots of times what looks good on paper or what looks good in plans, doesn’t work realistically in real life,” she said. “I think the council will make adjustments to what they decided in the future when they see what happens. I think it is too busy with all that parking coming and going.”

Janis Parente, the president of the northern New England chapter of Surfriders International, said the process was a frustrating one for all stakeholders involved. Her organization, she said, was looking to at the very least maintain on-street, off-season parking while using the parking lot on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Pearl Street to supplement the parking closer to the beach.

“I think what we came away with, both beach users and surfers, was that the process was suspect. Somehow throughout the process we weren’t truly heard,” Parente said.

She said many people came away from the Jan. 19 meeting feeling that they had put in countless hours sitting through the meetings and voicing their concerns, only to have the council adopt something that didn’t address their concerns.

“I think the council did have an option,” Parente said. “If they were listening they would have heard two things. They would have heard beach users say they want the drop-off area to be an additional six or seven spots in the wintertime. We wanted parking in the wintertime.”

The six or seven spots were in the most neighborhood-friendly part of the whole stretch of Bayview, Parente said.

“The homeowners were asking for no summer parking. The council could have heard those things and would have done a much better job with the compromise that both sides were willing to make.”

Ben Keller, a Scarborough resident, presented two recent time-lapse videos of the parking situation at Higgins Beach, which indicated no traffic issues in and around the beach area.

“I am disappointed. There is no factual reason, no supporting data to warrant limiting off-season parking at Higgins Beach,” said Keller. “To take away off-season parking was unnecessary and whether they say so or not, it takes away access, especially free access,” Keller added.

Keller, who lives five miles away from the beach but frequently visits, especially in the off-season, said the council did not hear everyone’s concerns.?”There seems to be a special interest down there and the council appeared to hear that above and beyond the good of the greater Scarborough public,” he said. “It is upsetting to me and makes it seems the process is not working as it should.”

Keller said he could not fault the entire Town Council because he knows there were some “stalwarts who really, really wanted to increase access.”

Morning Street resident Bill Donovan, however, said he was encouraged with what ended up passing.

“Higgins is a densely populated neighborhood, and the parking regulations placed on narrow streets and congested streets will help. Safe beach access for all remains the goal of our neighborhood,” he said.

The newest regulations adopted by the Town Council are tweaks to the Higgins Beach Ad-Hoc Parking Committee’s recommendation of banning parking on all streets in the neighborhood from Oct. 1 to April 1, except for six 30-minute spaces on Bayview Avenue from Pearl to Ashton streets.

According Town Council Chairwoman Judy Roy, the regulations passed by the council represented an attempt to reach a compromise among all users of the beach.

“I am trying to meet the needs of not only those who live in the area, but those folks who like to visit the area,” she said.

“I am trying to balance the quality of life for all involved,” she added.

The new regulations will be reviewed at the end of the year to gauge effectiveness.

“Nothing is set in stone,” said Roy. ‘We can review it in the future. If it worked well, we can extend it. If it didn’t we can eliminate it.”

To help the town obtain the data needed to determine whether the rules work, and to address the concerns of some Higgins Beach residents regarding visitors seen disrobing, littering and urinating in public, Morning Street resident Vin Bombaci suggested setting up a system of surveillance cameras.

“Video surveillance is a viable substitute when a police officer is not available at the beach, Bombaci said.

“I think the adjunct of a video surveillance system will help us with data collection and surveillance. It would be a signal to the police department,” Roy said, although the council took no action on it.

Keller said he would support a camera system there.

“Both camps have opinionated perceptions about what is going on down there,” he said. “A camera will help with that.”

After several months of meetings and hearings, the Scarborough Town Council last week enacted new parking rules for Higgins Beach. The true test of their effectiveness, however, may not come until the summer. (File photo)