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Washington, IA 52353
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Washington enacts new street parking restrictions
Cars can no longer occupy curb on parts of East Main, Second, among others
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
WASHINGTON — City council members voted 5-0 Tuesday night, Oct. 1, to adopt amendments to the municipal code banning parking on at least one side of the road in several neighborhoods. The third reading was the last step needed to get the change on the books after weeks of waiting on a reform that drew minimal public feedback.
The vote came with little fanfare, and elected officials reached their unanimous decision without discussion.
Perhaps most notable among the changes applies to Washington’s Main Street residents. The now-finalized code amendment will limit parking to only the south side of the road along Main Street, from North Fourth Avenue to North Sixth Avenue. It also bans parking on either side of Main Street within a few car-lengths on either side of the Main-Fourth intersection.
The amendment dropped language from an earlier draft that would’ve limited parking further west on the road, after the issue drew complaints from at least one resident. But after that revision, it drew no further public complaints throughout the approval process.
In an interview last month, City Administrator Joe Gaa said the local government had taken efforts to spread word of the proposal through media interviews and public notices, but had not reached out specifically to residents on the impacted streets.
“(Never) in any city that I’ve ever been in, do we start targeting residents to notify them of ordinances, we do it by the public process so everyone knows,” he said. “We don’t send letters to you saying ‘Hey, this may or may not effect you,’ because, what if we miss somebody?”
In other neighborhoods, the revised ordinance will now limit parking to one side of the road on stretches of West Van Buren (between South C and South Iowa,) East Second Street (between Third and Sixth,) and East Main Street (from around Fourth to Sixth.)
It will also ban street parking altogether on a narrow stretch of North Marion Avenue (between eighth and 15th,) and along the high school-adjacent portion of South Avenue B from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on school days.
Each reading of the ordinance has received unanimous approval among the council members present. Council Member Ivan Rangel was absent from Tuesday night’s meeting. Elaine Moore was absent from the second, on Sept. 17.
Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com
