Parking restrictions approved for several Monona streets
By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor
At its Oct. 2 meeting, the Monona Council approved parking restrictions for several city streets, including South Page, Maple, Fair and Davis streets.
On South Page, changes will occur in front of MFL MarMac Elementary, where parking was not allowed in six spaces. After consulting with the school, Monona Police Chief Jo Amsden recommended allowing parking in four spaces, while leaving two restricted, a move the council approved.
On Fair Street, Amsden said incidents have occurred due to the narrowness of the street, which measures 23 feet, 10 inches wide from curb to curb. Vehicles parked on both sides of the street can make it difficult to get through, and to see.
“Closest to South Main is usually where the problem is,” she told the council.
Last year, there was a hit and run at the intersection. A vehicle did not have enough room to get through, Amsden explained, and side-swiped another vehicle.
In order to combat the problem, the council approved no parking in the area 30 feet from the stop sign on both sides of Fair Street where it intersects with Main Street.
Maple Street faces some of the same problems as Fair Street.
“It’s even narrower,” Amsden said, at 20 feet, 2 inches wide.
The council agreed to apply the same restrictions on Maple, with parking not allowed until 30 feet back from the stop sign.
The final area addressed was Davis Street and West Street, near the school.
Although not as narrow as Fair and Maple Streets, the area is busy.
“It gets so much traffic, so it looks narrower,” noted councilman John Elledge.
In order to ease problems, the council approved no parking until 30 feet back from the stop sign on both sides of the street at the intersection of Davis and West streets.
