Marengo City Council revisits Lafayette parking

MARENGO — The Marengo City Council voted 3-2 earlier this month not to prohibit parking on Lafayette Avenue south of Compass Memorial Healthcare.

But City Administrator Karla Marck asked the council during the May 22 meeting to consider prohibiting parking on one side of the street.

Compass Memorial has requested parking restrictions on the block of Lafayette south of the hospital to address safety concerns during the hospital’s construction phase. Streets have been closed and traffic rerouted, creating safety concerns on Lafayette when vehicles are parked on the street.

Marck recommended limiting parking to the east side of Lafayette south of the alley. The street narrows to the north of the alley.

Marck said she’d discussed the recommendation with the city council’s streets committee — John Hinshaw and Jenni Olson. Hinshaw and Olson voted for the parking ban on both sides of the street during a previous meeting, but the motion failed when the other three council members, Travis Schlabach, Bill Kreis and Karen Wayson-Kisling voted against it.

“I think it’s the best of both worlds,” said Marck. It makes the traffic path wider while allowing street parking for residents of Lafayette, Nicole Folkmann and Jim Peterson. Both residents have objected publicly to the parking bans during previous meetings.

Kreis said he drove by Lafayette the day of the council meeting, and the street was clear. A resident of another street frequently parks a trailer on Lafayette, but he had parked elsewhere, Kreis said.

“That’s exactly what we want him to do,” said Marck.

Peterson said if the city allows parking on one side only, the trailer will be back, and the residents won’t have a place to park. Marck explained that the city can’t limit parking on a street to residents only. If parking is allowed, it is allowed for anyone.

Ambulances are currently not using Lafayette because a temporary emergency room entrance has been set up on Western Avenue. Buses for dialysis are the biggest issue on Lafayette Avenue, he said.

“We shot it in the foot two weeks ago,” said Kreis of the Lafayette parking issue. Now it’s here again, he said.

“We should be embracing this process,” said Hinshaw. Marengo has a hospital making an investment in the community and should support that.

Kreis said he doesn’t like telling people they can’t park in front of their homes.

“We make ordinances all the time that tells people what to do,” said Hinshaw. The council can’t base decisions on what the law was when people bought their houses.

“This is a temporary solution,” said Marck. “There is a vision and a long-term plan.”

Eventually the hospital will take down the old legion building and make a parking lot. The legion building is currently being used as an office for construction.

Hinshaw and Wayson-Kisling voted to create an ordinance restricting parking on Lafayette to the east side only. Kreis abstained. Schlabach and Olson were absent.