Paid Parking, Shuttle Debate Rages On

CHATHAM – As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

 Twenty-five years ago this past summer, a pilot shuttle program called Chatham Area Transit, or CAT, ran during the first two weeks of August, carrying passengers from outlying parking lots along two routes with stops downtown and at major tourist attractions like the lighthouse and fish pier. The program was sponsored by the town, the chamber of commerce and the Cape Cod Regional Transition Authority.

 The same week, the select board discussed a report that found that paid parking in the downtown area could raise half a million dollars in revenue annually.

 The CAT program ran for a full summer in 2002, but despite decent ridership, it was cancelled after state and federal transportation funds were cut. 

Earlier this year, the select voted against paid parking downtown, except in the Eldredge Garage lot.

Both a shuttle and paid parking — specifically at the Eldredge Garage lot — were back on the select board’s agenda last week.

 After a long discussion, the board decided to request two separate proposals: one to continue managing the paid parking, with a shuttle alternative, at the Eldredge Garage, and a second proposal for a shuttle to carry passengers from outlying parking areas to downtown and major attractions. Town staff will develop the details of a shuttle plan and bring it back to the board before putting out a request for proposals.

 A shuttle was identified in a recent Cape Cod Commission parking and circulation study as a potential solution to the problem of too many cars trying to jockey for parking downtown during the summer months. The study concluded that while Chatham has adequate parking, visitors tend to overlook parking areas just outside of downtown, such as the community center and elementary school, and sometimes spend a considerable time instead trying to find a spot right in the downtown business district.

 Since 2018, Chatham Valet has operated a free shuttle as part of its management of the Eldredge Garage lot. In a report to the town, owner Miladin Terziyski wrote that golf carts and a small bus shuttled about 400 visitors a day to locations like the fish pier, the lighthouse and downtown. This past summer was particularly busy, he told the select board Nov. 3, with paid parking at the Eldredge lot up 27 percent over 2025. Chatham Valet pays the town $13,000 annually to run the Eldredge Garage lot, the only paid parking lot in town (residents and taxpayers park there free). 

 Chair Jeffrey Dykens said he’s looking for a more formal shuttle to encourage visitors to park in outlying lots and prevent cars from clogging Main Street. The chamber of commerce and merchants association also support a shuttle, said Director Kristin Muller, but added that the consensus of chamber members is that town parking lots should be either all paid or all free.

 Select board member Stuart Smith said the Chatham Valet shuttle and the influx of visitors has had a “detrimental effect” on the fish pier.

 “That facility is being turned upside down,” he said. “It was never expected to handle the amount of people that we’re putting into that facility.” He declined to support issuing proposals either for paid parking at the Eldredge lot or for a shuttle, saying there were other solutions to the overcrowding problem, such as enforcing a two-hour time limit on Main Street and making the Eldedge Garage lot free.

 “And we need to stop trucking people to the fish pier,” he said.

 “The people are coming anyway,” Dykens said.

 “We don’t have to make it easy for them,” replied Smith.

 Board member Cory Metters, who runs a business downtown, said this past summer was the busiest he’s seen in a long time. It’s “crystal clear people know we’re here and they’re coming.” Despite the big crowds, “they all found a place to park,” he noted.

 Board member Dean Nicastro supports paid parking downtown and said it was a mistake to turn it down. “We’re losing a half million dollars in revenue, I think stupidly,” he said. But while others called for converting the Eldredge Garage to free parking, he argued that it “isn’t just a paid lot” but was purchased by the town to also preserve green space and history, and should continue as paid parking.

 The Colors of Chatham owner Barry Desilets said the Eldredge Garage lot hurts his business because visitors bypass the paid parking to search for free parking elsewhere, and Chatham Valet’s shuttles take away pedestrian traffic. He advocated for all parking in downtown to be either free or paid. He added that the town could solve the parking issue by building a parking garage at the parking lot off Stage Harbor Road.

 That would be “lunacy,” said Smith. “If we support that, everybody on this board is going to be looking for a new job,” he said. Such a structure would also face regulatory and environmental challenges, said Community Development Director Kathleen Donovan.

 The board voted 4-1, with Smith dissenting, to issue a request for proposals for management of paid parking at the Eldredge Garage lot. The vote to instruct the staff to develop a proposal for a shuttle was approved 3-2, with Smith and Metters voting against it.

 Dykens said he wants to get the shuttle proposal out as soon as possible.

 “We’ve been talking about this for 10 years,” he said.

 Considerably longer, actually.