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The Winchester Select Board on Feb. 23 approved an overnight parking pilot, raised building permit fees for the first time since 2021, adopted the 2026 outdoor dining policy and directed the town manager to examine reinvesting downtown-generated revenue into town center improvements.
The board voted unanimously to implement the overnight parking pilot beginning March 1. The program allows on-street overnight parking outside declared snow emergencies within an area generally bounded by Main Street, Skillings Road, Mount Vernon Street and Highland Avenue up to the Woburn line. The Muraco school lot and the Jenks parking lot will also be available.
Town Manager Chris Senior said no registration will be required and that existing street-specific restrictions, including safety-related no-parking zones, will remain in force. Parking will not be permitted on major roads requiring snow clearance.
Senior said he would like to revisit the program and “maybe do something more broad for the summer and the fall,” using the winter data to inform any expansion.
Select Board member Anthea Brady cautioned residents that snow emergency enforcement would not change.
“If there’s a snow emergency, don’t expect that your car will be left alone and buried in a pile of snow,” she said. “You may get a ticket. You may get towed.”
Outdoor dining
The board also unanimously adopted the 2026 outdoor dining policy, maintaining last year’s structure. The season will run from the first Wednesday in May to the third Wednesday in October. Applications are due March 20 at noon. The per-space license fee remains $800, and the contiguity requirement for dining areas stays in effect.
Chair Michelle Prior noted the board was a few weeks behind last year’s schedule.
Following that vote, member Michael Bettencourt moved to have Senior evaluate the town’s strategic downtown action plan and examine how parking and dining revenue could address needs in it. He said the town had previously developed a plan estimated at $10 million to $12 million and argued for incremental projects.
“It probably makes sense for some of those funds that come from the parking to be reinvested in that area,” he said.
Senior said he would aim to report back by late April.
The motion passed unanimously.
Building permits
In the evening’s most detailed discussion, the board voted 4-1 to raise both residential and commercial building permit rates to $18 per $1,000 of estimated construction cost, effective April 1. Both had been $16 per $1,000 since July 2021.
Building Commissioner Tom Kennedy had recommended $17 for residential and $18 for commercial. He told the board that construction projects have grown significantly more complex.
“What used to take us an hour to review is now taking us two hours,” Kennedy said. “What used to take us 30 to 40 minutes to inspect is now taking us an hour.”
He cited new energy code requirements and solar panel regulations.
Kennedy said the increase to $17 on residential permits was projected to generate approximately $88,000 in new revenue. He cautioned against moving too aggressively, saying he did not want to “start having people not pull permits for smaller projects, and we lose revenue that we’re gaining right now.”
The materials provided to the board did not include total current building permit revenue, so the percentage increase those projections represent couldn't be calculated during the meeting.
Select Board member Paras Bhayani questioned whether the town should set both rates at parity, noting that peer community Arlington already charges $20 per $1,000.
Select board member Bill McGonigle then moved to set both at $18.
“I think this is just what we need to do for the sake of increasing revenues,” McGonigle said. “I don’t think it’s a lot in the larger scope of any individual project, but the aggregate can mean a big deal for the town.”
Bettencourt cast the lone dissenting vote, saying he wanted to see where revenue lands before raising the residential rate.
The board confirmed April 1 as the effective date by unanimous vote. Prior said she preferred that timeline over a midyear change so the board would have a full fiscal year of revenue data from April 2026 through June 2027.
The board also reinstated the $50 certificate of occupancy fee suspended during the pandemic, doubled the annual inspection fee from $40 to $80, introduced a $75 sheet metal permit, raised mechanical permit fees from $50 to $75 and increased re-inspection penalties from $10 to $50.
Will Dowd is a Massachusetts journalist who covers municipal government and community life for Winchester News. He runs The Marblehead Independent, a reader-funded digital newsroom.
