DOVER, De. - A Dover priest and the Downtown Dover Partnership are butting heads after cars were towed from unmarked spots this past summer.
Father Attillio Zarrella was holding a census class in July at King of Kings Anglican Church, and parked next door in the Governor's Avenue lot near Auto Plus Auto Parts.
"Both me and the instructor parked in these spaces, I've been parking here for about ten years with no problem. But we came out after the 4 hour class and both of our cars were gone," he explained in late November, pointing out the spots where he parked, and where other cars were parked at the time of our interview. There were no noticeable parking permits on the dashboards or windshields.
Father Zarrella said that on that July day, he checked with employees of Auto Plus to see if they had the cars towed, but they told Zarrella they did not. He called the police, who said the cars clearly had not been stolen, but towed.
That led Zarrella to McKinney's Towing on Route 13. According to the slip of paper he received, his 2011 Ford Fiesta was towed away at the request of the Downtown Dover Partnership, who oversees parking.
Zarrella pointed out the large blue signs to us that read "Parking by Permit Only" around the lot, but there was no signage at those specific spots. He wrote a letter to the DDP, which he shared with WBOC. It reads in part:
"I can understand the dilemma that your organization is in, however, I and this instructor, along with six other people should not have to pay because of a lack of action on behalf of the partnership in failing to clearly mark these spaces. In light of this, I am requesting a refund of $175 each, in towing fees, for both me and this instructor."
Zarrella said that after he wrote the letter, he received a call from a DDP employee, and said while they understand the spots were not marked, they would not be refunding him for the tow.
"I was quite disappointed that they weren't going to own up to their mistake and make it right. That's all we are asking," admitted Zarrella.
So Zarrella took his complaint to City Hall. Dover Mayor Robin Christansen told us he spoke by phone with Father Zarrella about the matter, and that he offered to facilitate a meeting between the two parties. Christansen told me the DDP declined the offer.
Zarrella said he also reached out to Representative Sean Lynn about the matter, before reaching out to the State Attorney General's Office. Zarrella said that he received a letter that the Attorney General's Office is now investigating the matter through the Consumer Protection Unit. The letter is dated December 10th, 2020. We do not have a copy of the DDP response, but letter asks that the DDP respond within ten days of receiving the letter from the Attorney General's office.
We reached out to the Downtown Dover Partnership multiple times about Father Zarrella's claim. Diane Laird, Executive Director of the Downtown Dover Partnership released this statement to us:
"DDP's parking process and management remain consistent with all users of parking. Appropriate signs are posted. It would not be fair to parking users if we were to make special provisions for individual parties."
Father Zarrella said that this months long ordeal is not about the money, but about what he says is doing the right thing.
"If they took the responsibility of to maintain this parking lot and to tow our cars, they need to own up to the liability that comes with that responsibility. It's only fair," he explained.
We've been working on this story for weeks now, and since we interviewed Father Zarrella back at the end of November, we returned to the parking lot in question, where small yellow words have been stenciled in the spots that read "Reserved Parking." The words are very small and barely legible without standing on top of them.
We spoke to an employee of Auto Plus Auto Parts, who said those words were painted within the last few weeks. That employee told us they believed someone from the city painted them, but couldn't be sure.
Back in 2018, there was a study done called the Downtown Dover Parking Study. One of the main findings of that report noted that signage needed to be improved upon, including "increase signage for parking lots," and that people surveyed said "better signage directing us to the right spots" was most important to them.
