Warrenton aldermen have decided to halt the two-hour parking limit for vehicles on Main Street following a discussion Tuesday night. The board voted 6-0 to approve a 12-month moratorium on the …
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Warrenton aldermen have decided to halt the two-hour parking limit for vehicles on Main Street following a discussion Tuesday night.
The board voted 6-0 to approve a 12-month moratorium on the parking restriction, a move made in part to encourage visitors to Main Street businesses without the worry of being ticketed.
Under the current city ordinance, vehicles are not allowed to be parked for more than a two-hour period between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays in the Main Street business district.
The parking issue was raised by Police Chief Greg Houdyshell who asked the board for assistance on how to proceed with enforcement, although he acknowledged he had received few complaints.
“It’s manpower that could be put to better use elsewhere,” Houdyshell said. “But there is an ordinance in place and something I don’t want to ignore. Quite honestly, this parking situation is something I haven’t dealt with.”
He said he is concerned that a few Main Street business owners and employees may feel they have a designated parking spot.
City officials, however, noted that enforcement has been sporadic at the best over the years and has been met with resistance.
Mayor Greg Costello also noted that the city had looked in the past at finding property for a city parking lot to provide more parking.
“You could put a lot of manpower into it and get some results and make a lot of people angry doing it,” he said.
The board chose to go with the 12-month moratorium rather than a 30-day window that would have been used to alert drivers to plans about stepping up enforcement.
Officers use chalk to draw a line behind a vehicle’s tire and then return two hours later to see if the vehicle has been moved, Houdyshell said.
“If you’re parking in front of your business, you just chased away your own customers,” Alderman Don Broering said.
Alderman Fred Flake recalled a time years ago when the city had employees whose main responsibility was to enforce the parking ordinance.
“They caught a lot of flack at certain times,” he said. “It’s a touchy situation.”
