Signs were recently posted indicating a charge for parking in the Trout Brook Drive lot for UConn’s West Hartford Campus.

New signage at the entrance to the UConn parking lot on Trout Brook Drive indicate that visitors need to ‘pay by phone’ to park. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

By Ronni Newton

The large parking lot on Trout Brook Drive across the street from the University of Connecticut’s West Hartford campus has for years accommodated students as well as those using the Little League baseball and Miracle League fields and the playscape, and it even served as the site of “mulch mountain” when fallen trees and branches were cleaned from West Hartford’s streets and ground into mulch after the October 2011 snowstorm.

Certain spaces in the UConn parking lot on Trout Brook Drive are marked with ‘pay by phone’ signs. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

Over the weekend, signs appeared at the entrance to the parking lot, indicating that visitors would have to “pay by phone” for parking, at a rate of $1.00 per hour. Certain spaces, near the entrance/exit of the lot, and the crosswalk to the campus on the west side of Trout Brook Drive, were also marked with signs designating that payment would be required.

“They’re going to start charging for parking, but our lease is clear that we are not to be charged,” West Hartford Director of Community Services Mark McGovern said regarding the athletic fields and associated amenities on the northeast corner of Trout Brook Drive and Asylum Avenue.

McGovern said he learned about the new signage and plans to charge for parking when a resident emailed Town Manager Ron Van Winkle over the weekend, and he has been quickly working to clarify the situation with UConn.

Administration of the parking lot has recently been transferred from the UConn police to Parking Services, McGovern said. “They weren’t familiar with our lease, which I sent to them,” he said.

McGovern said that according to UConn, although not indicated on any of the signage, the hours of enforcement for paid parking are intended to be Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. – 5 p.m. UConn initially told him it wouldn’t be an issue because that’s not typically when games are held.

However, McGovern said that residents are permitted to use the fields, playscape, and basketball courts at any time, not just when there is a scheduled game.

UConn will be updating the signage to indicate the hours of enforcement, and McGovern said he has been told that residents using the facilities won’t be ticketed. Since it’s not clear how UConn will know who the reason that people are parking in the lot, he suggested not parking in the spaces that are marked with individual “pay to park” signs. Those signs are only at a small number of the spaces in the lot.

The Department of Leisure Services will be making Little League and other groups that regularly use the athletic fields aware of the situation, and will advise against parking in the marked spaces.

“We’re not finished talking,” McGovern said. “UConn has been cooperative and I have every reason to believe that we will work this out.”

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