Hospital asks for parking ban on Lafayette Avenue

MARENGO — Banning parking along Lafayette Avenue south of Compass Memorial Healthcare will alleviate congestion as patients come and go, said Barry Goettsch, Compass chief executive officer, during a Marengo City Council meeting April 10.

Goettsch asked the council to prohibit parking along the street.

May Street is currently closed due to construction on the hospital property, and Lafayette is now the only way in and out. Parking, even on one side of the street, creates a safety hazard, said Goettsch.

Councilman Travis Schlabach suggested widening Lafayette to allow parking on one side for the two residents who live there.

Goettsch said he’d spoken with both residents. They both have driveways for off-street parking.

One resident said he doesn’t care if parking is not allowed on the street, Goettsch said. The other said he is fine with the parking prohibition except for himself.

The trailer that is usually parked on Lafayette doesn’t belong to a resident of Lafayette, Goettsch said. The owner lives on Main Street, where parking is not allowed.

Councilman Bill Kries said he started driving around town looking at all of the streets that have no parking signs. Many residents in town can’t park on the streets in front of their homes.

“They knew that when they bought the house,” said Schlabach.

But there’s no guarantee when you buy a house that things won’t change, said Kries.

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Schlabach said the hospital could gift the city some of the land from the old legion so the city can widen the street and keep parking on one side.

Lafayette is also the main entrance to the hospital campus as the hospital continues its master plan, which includes parking lots on the old legion and pool sites between West May and West Main Streets.

The Family Medical Center is already scheduling appointments out three weeks, said Goettsch. The hospital has to look at hiring more providers and finding space for them.

The master plan proposes building additions east and south of the current hospital. “If the opportunities become available, we will take them,” he said.

Right now parking for team members is a problem because they try to leave spaces in the parking lot for patients.

The council will conduct a public hearing before making a decision.

(Edited to correct the spelling of the name of the Compass CEO.)