Mansfield Selectmen Threaten Commuter Rail Lot With Shutdown May 1

In less than one week, local train riders could arrive at a Commuter Rail parking lot on Chauncy St. and wonder why they are unable to park in the private lot.

While approving commercial parking lot licenses for 2013, the selectmen voted 3-1 to renew the license for a lot owned by A-C Intermediate at 75 Chauncy St. pending the payment of money owed to the town by the lot's owner. 

Currently, the operators of the parking lot owe the town $7,151 in real estate taxes and have not paid taxes on the land for three consecutive quarters.

The resolution allows the lot to pay their taxes before their current license expires on May 1 without the need for the selectmen to approve a new license at their next meeting which does not take place until the evening of May 1.

Selectman Doug Annino was the lone vote against the proposal, refusing to support any resolution that renewed the lot's license while carrying an outstanding balance.

"The point is that they are waiting to the last minute to pay when everyone else is paid. I'm not going set a prescient that everyone can wait until the last minute and everything will be right," Annino said.

Jess Apowitz was against the motion but voted for it to help keep the process moving.

"This is a business collecting money everyday and it’s terrible. I’m going to support the motion to keep things moving along." Apowitz said.

Chair Olivier Kozlowski agreed that there needed to be consequences for not paying the taxes owed to the town, but he did not feel was fair to let the issue effect the commuters who use the lot.

"The people who park there just want to get to work. They’re not responsible for this and it would be a substantial mess if we don’t do all that we can to prevent that from happening," Kozolowski said. "I can’t ignore the people who just want to get to work."

Acting Town Manage Nick Riccio said he would try to get in contact with the lot's owners as soon as possible to resolve the situation. Parking in the lot will not be allowed if all the money owed to the town by the lot's owner is not paid by May 1.