The case of the people who parked along the side of the road
Rebecca Leonard
News Correspondent
TEMPLETON Parking in front of Country Mischief Restaurant and Shop has recently begun creating a problem for residents and motorists traveling on Baldwinville Road.
“Parking has always been a problem, but since the road has been redone it’s gotten much worse,” said Police Chief Michael Bennett.
At Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, Mr. Bennett explained that residents and motorists have been complaining more frequently now that the entrance to Baldwinville Road has been reworked.
According to Mr. Bennett, there are several safety issues surrounding the available parking for the restaurant. Cars parked on the corner cause an obstruction of view for vehicles traveling in either direction and if the cars were moved to Boynton Street, there wouldn’t be any room for emergency response vehicles.
Selectmen Chairman John Columbus explained that during the meeting he told Mr. Bennett to get together with Highway Department Superintendent, Bud Chase to make a plan of action.
“Once they bring something back we’ll call everyone in and have them speak their piece,” he said.
Co-owner Gail Whittle was taken aback by the decision to reorganize her customer parking because she hasn’t seen any accidents due to the cars on the streets.
“The only accident that we’ve seen was two weeks after the road was redone and someone drove across the grass. That didn’t have anything to do with us,” said Ms. Whittle.
The restaurant has been in business for over 24 years and Ms. Whittle and her husband, Glenn said have done everything they could to help the parking situation, including considering building a parking lot on the land they own on Patriots Road.
“I can’t imagine our customers hightailing it over here,” said Ms. Whittle.
When asked if Boynton Street was a possible option Ms. Whittle explained that the street is too small and her customers have gotten tickets for parking over there before.
“Not to mention that if we have a lot of customers, the library isn’t going to be too happy about it,” she said.
Ro Kennedy, a waitress at Country Mischief, agrees that parking wasn’t an issue until they reconstructed the road and put in dual sidewalks, making the road narrower.
Ms. Kennedy and Ms. Whittle both agree that whatever they decide it will be penalizing their customers and they expect to see a drop in foot traffic.
“Whenever we control where (customers) need to park it’s an immediate bad taste in their mouth,” stated Alyssa Zelesky, who works in their main store.
The issue will be presented again at the Board of Selectmen meeting at Town Hall on Aug. 24 at 6:30 p.m. Mr. Bennett said he hopes to have a traffic layout of the road for the next meeting.
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