The Haverhill City Council this week said it may raise parking fines throughout the city after hearing concerns about illegal parking by third-party Amazon drivers.
Councilor Catherine P. Rogers said she received evidence from residents of Amazon trucks unloading and parked on the side of Boston Road and near Oxford Street in Ward Hill.
“It could be overnight or a couple of days. Basically, Ward Hill has become a truck stop,” she said. “They’ve been in Duffy’s, I know they’ve thrown them out. They’ve been in Dunkin’ Donuts along the connector, they’re sleeping there at night. They’ve been on Neck Road,” she said.
Rogers noted Mayor Melinda E. Barrett and representatives from Amazon met Tuesday morning.
“They said that North Andover asked them not to have the trailers or trucks parked on their streets,” she said. “You know, the driveway going into Amazon because it was unsafe, a safety hazard for the fire trucks going in and out of Amazon. They also stated that these trucks are third party companies that they hire. They deliver to Amazon, and as soon as they unload, they’re asked to leave because they don’t work directly with Amazon and work with a third-party company.”
She said Amazon told the city the company provides a list to contractors of where to park when delivering.
Haverhill Police Department continues to ticket drivers, but Barrett said the city is restricted by state law with how much the city can ticket drivers. The city may currently ticket drivers $25 at a time and the Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to place an ordinance on file for 10 days that would raise that fine to $50.
“Right now the ordinance is $25. We had hoped to be able to change it to a much higher number but Mass. General Law prohibits it. What we have on file for 10 days raises it to $50 and that is the limit,” the mayor said.
The ordinance would apply to parking fines throughout the city. Barrett said she also requested legislators explore increasing fines at the state level, noting the city can fine people more for not picking up their dog waste.
Barrett confirmed that the city has spoken with the town of North Andover about the issue. “We’ll get to the bottom as far as why they’re restricting this on property. It does not make sense to me. But it will not make sense to those drivers because we will ticket them every day, every turn of the day,” she said.
Rogers said she understands the drivers are not Amazon employees. “What I heard from them was they don’t work for us, they’re third party companies we hire and as soon as they’re done dumping the load they’re somebody else’s issue,” she said.
In a statement to WHAV, Sam Stephenson, Amazon spokesperson said, “We apologize for the inconvenience this issue has caused in Haverhill and we’re continuing to reinforce with drivers who are delivering on our behalf where they can park their vehicles and where they cannot. The City of Haverhill has been a great partner in this effort and we’ll continue working with officials until this issue is resolved.”
In other Council news, the council said goodbye to Diana Sherlock who has resigned from the Board of Health as of Oct. 3. Barbara Costello was appointed to the board through Oct. 31, 2027.