Parking concerns in Wayland spark meeting with council

By STEPH TAHTINEN

Mt. Pleasant News

WAYLAND ? Residents of 4th Street in Wayland will be receiving letters from the city asking them to come discuss parking issues with the city council during its Sept. 21 meeting.

The issue is that the way cars are parking on the streets makes it difficult for vehicles to drive down the street and does not allow room for emergency vehicles.

?Last Thursday night my wife and I were out riding around in my little convertible, and I could barely fit through there with my convertible,? said Police Chief Ron Roth. ?A fire truck would not have made it through that area, no way whatsoever.?

Of major concern to the council was that emergency vehicles such as ambulances or fire trucks may not be able to get down the street if necessary.

?We need to figure out a way to keep that from happening,? said Mayor Brad Roth.

Chief Roth said he had talked to Barry Leichty, gas superintendent, who said this has been a problem for 20 years.

?I?ve been here 9 1/2 years, and it?s progressively gotten worse,? said Chief Roth. He said the situation is especially bad on Thursday nights, when there are card parties held at three of the houses on that street. ?Last Thursday night was the worst. I had to just crawl through there.?

The solution he came up with was to require off-street parking. However, Mayor Roth had another suggestion.

?Let?s go alternate days,? suggested Mayor Brad Roth. ?At least everything would be on one side.?

Chief Roth agreed that alternate parking might help the situation correct itself, and he suggested holding the meeting to get residents? input.

?The more heads you get together, the better off you are,? said Chief Roth. ?Somebody will be able to come up with a solution.?

In other business, the approved and signed agreements with Tim Meyer and Russell Yoder to extend the city?s natural gas line to their farms, Turkeys R Russ and Meyer Farms, Inc.

Along with these agreements, the city awarded a bid for the project for $158,750 to Smith Seeding of Eldridge, the same company that has been doing boring for the Mt. Pleasant Washington Street lighting project.

This bid is about $60,000 higher than original estimates. The exact cause for the increase is not known, but Jim Warner of Warner Engineering in Mt. Pleasant told the council that the cost of pipe has gone up since they first started discussing the project.

At this cost, the city should recoup its money in about 12 years.

?That?s a lot of years payoff,? commented Mayor Brad Roth.

Still, the cost is not as bad as it may have been.

?I talked to Smith, and he actually had a bid of $181,000 before he lowered it,? said Warner.

The city had received one other bid on the project from USDI of Unionville, Mo., for $188,326. USDI is the company that is doing the gas line extension project to Eichelberger Miller Incorporated.

That extension project has already begun. Before the west project can begin, easements must be acquired from the property owners.