The Town of Newmarket is apologizing after reserving downtown accessible parking spots for longer than intended for council members.
With the Ice Lounge event happening on downtown Main Street, the municipality added some parking control in the area of Market Square. Two parking spots at the Old Town Hall where accessible parking is located were reserved for a kickoff ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22, with one marked for the mayor. The municipality said the reservations were intended to be removed that night, but an oversight extended that until Friday.
“We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and would like to apologize to anyone impacted,” the municipality said.
The town said due to the parking reservations at the Old Town Hall, it added two accessible parking spots at Market Square to offset the loss.
“Parking attendants were on hand to assist those that needed help finding accessible parking in the area,” the municipality said.
A resident posted on social media that their father had intended to visit a store nearby, but the reservations blocked him from parking in a convenient accessible spot.
“They had put signs over the handicap signs with who the spots were reserved for. My dad, who uses a cane due to knee issues, was told he would have to drive farther to find a spot,” the resident said. “He's really upset about this, as many people who use those spots really struggle."
