Headed to downtown Hanover? There are 730 public spaces. Here's where they all are

It's never been a better time to go downtown in Hanover, with countless shops, breweries and other entertainment venues dotting the area.

That includes longtime staples like the Guthrie Memorial Library, the Famous Hot Weiner, the Texas Lunch, Clark's Shoes, Jocelyn's Pet Shop, the Texas Hot Wiener, the Hanover Hotel, the Hanover Area Arts Guild, the Reader's Cafe, Something Wicked and The Circle.

But it also includes more recent additions, such as Aldus Brewing Company, the Acai Spot, Britton Coffee Company, Greer's Burger Garage, Dawg Gone Bees, Timeline Arcade, OAK, McAllister's on York, Redding Medical Supply Shop, the Serpent's Key, Bluebird Tattoo Studio, Whirled Records, Cultivated Essentials, the Church of Satire Comedy Club, Fat Bat Brewing Company, the Cake Bar, Vault Gaming, Let's Play, Escape Confusion, Vinny's Italian Market, and more.

If you aren't familiar with the area, finding parking may seem like a daunting task. But you might be surprised by just how much parking Hanover has downtown, once you know where the lots are.

Here's a map of the public parking lots:

This map doesn't include street parking or private lots, which adds even more space to park downtown. But in public parking alone, Hanover has around 730 parking spaces, according to a 2020 parking study.

A recent addition to parking in downtown Hanover has been the availability to use a phone app to pay for parking, something that can be a saving grace for those who don't have many quarters on hand.

The app, Passport Parking, does require a $1 minimum, which pays for an hour of parking, and comes with a 25-cent service charge, making the minimum payment of $1.25 for an hour.

Users who download the app can save their vehicle and payment information in the app, which also remembers the zone numbers of recently used lots. Once the app is set up, you simply type in the 5-digit zone number and select how much time you need.

The app additionally allows you to extend your parking from anywhere, a bonus for those tired of running out to feed meters.

As for coin-based parking, the parking meters downtown offer 15 minutes for each quarter, needing four quarters for one hour of parking.

Metered parking is enforced 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays, but is free on Sundays and Holidays.

Free parking is available on New Year's Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.

Street parking

One of the most common ways to park downtown is street parking, which is available all around the downtown area.

The downtown portion of the borough has roughly 248 metered street parking spaces, according to a list by Main Street Hanover.

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Street parking is offered on Broadway, Carlisle Street, Frederick Street, Baltimore Street, Railroad Street, York Street, West and East Chestnut Street, Franklin Street, West and East Walnut Streets and Locust Street.

Street parking has its own zones for the Passport Parking app, which can be found on signs or meters.

The square

While the square was once a circle with a roundabout, in the late 1960s the square was born, and with it, came the "quadrants" we know today.

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Each quadrant offers a few parking spots, and gives visitors to businesses on the square the shortest walk.

The square features 33 metered parking spaces and three handicap spaces, spread out between the four quadrants.

The quadrants are one-way, with one quadrant accessible from the right-turning lane of each road that leads into the square.

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Lot One: Baltimore Street

Getting into the parking lots, lot one is likely one of the most well-known and most visible.

Located along Baltimore Street, the lot features 60 metered spaces and two handicap spaces.

Forty spaces are 12-hour spaces, and 20 are 2.5 hour spaces.

Lot Two: West Chestnut Street

Lot two features 20 12-hour metered spaces, two handicap spaces and 58 permit spaces.

In this lot, be sure to park at a space with a meter, as the permit spaces do not have meters.

Next to lot two, lot 11 provides nine 12-hour metered spaces that are intended for the Wirt Park Playground.

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Lot Three: The municipal building

Anyone who has ever paid a bill at the Hanover Borough municipal building, or attended a borough meeting, likely has already parked in this lot.

Lot three, located along Frederick Street, provides 40 metered spaces and two handicap spaces, with 17 30-minute spaces and 23 2.5-hour spaces.

Free parking is available at any red-headed meter for 10-minutes for borough business during business hours. Outside of business hours, parking at red-headed meters is metered between 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Mondays through Saturdays.

Lot Four: Carlisle Street

Lot four, located along Carlisle Street, features 43 2.5-hour metered spaces, and two handicap spaces.

The lot is one-way, with access solely off of Carlisle Street.

Lot Five: Railroad Street

Lot five, located on Railroad Street, features 45 12-hour metered spaces and two handicap spaces.

The lot provides easy access to one of downtown Hanover's newest additions, Greer's Burger Garage, which is just a short walk across Chestnut Street.

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Lot five also features an electric vehicle charging station, with two spaces for electric vehicles to charge. The charging does come at a cost, and is paid for through the charging station.

Access to the lot can be made off of East Chestnut Street or Railroad Street.

Lot Seven: York Street

One of the more hidden lots downtown is lot seven, which is tucked away behind an alleyway on York Street.

Lot seven features 27 metered spaces and one handicap space.

12 spaces are 2.5-hour meters, and 15 spaces are 12-hour meters.

Access to the lot is one-way, with traffic accessing off of York Street.

Lot Eight: Pennsylvania Avenue

Likely the furthest public parking lot from Hanover's center square, lot eight is located along Pennsylvania Avenue, near High Street.

Lot eight features 13 12-hour meters and one handicap space.

Lots Nine and 12:

While these two lots are technically separate, they are physically attached to each other, and are located beside the Hanover Market House.

Lot nine features 32 overflow spaces for the Hanover Market House, and can be utilized for visiting the market. Most of these spaces are along the market itself.

Lot 12, on the other hand, has 42 metered spaces that do not have meters, and require visitors to use the Passport Parking app.

Private parking: The bank lot

Once upon a time, this Railroad Street lot was "lot six" of Hanover Borough's public parking lots. Now, the lot has become a private parking lot, which uses its own ticketed system.

The lot features 66 parking spaces, but costs a premium over the borough's public parking at $2 per hour on weekends and $1.25 an hour on weekdays.

It's not the only private parking lot downtown, as several businesses, including Rite Aid and Royal Farms, have their own parking that is intended for customers.

Harrison Jones is the Hanover reporter for the Evening Sun. Reach him at hjones@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Hanover Evening Sun: Headed to downtown Hanover? There are 730 public spaces. Here's where they all are