Discussion on Park Ridge subdivision street parking and speed limit continued Wednesday at the City of Warsaw Traffic Safety Commission. The board also approved ordinances on the Commission’s membership and city hall parking lot. Those ordinances must be approved by the city council. The Park Ridge Home Owners Association, through its president, Aaron Gaff, and treasurer, Michal Piwonski, expressed concern to the Commission in October about residents parking on the street in front of their homes and the vehicles blocking the view of oncoming traffic. Specific locations where that is a concern are at 180 and 207 Park Ridge and 2094 Highlander. “We can easily deal with the curve at Nuthatch (street) by Indiana traffic code. They can’t park within a curve,” Traffic Commission Administrator and Warsaw Police Dept. Lt. Kip Shuter said Wednesday. “But the one at the top of hill is a little more sensitive issue. It’s not covered by Indiana law.” He said the road width out there was measured and is about 26 feet wide. “It’s one foot shorter than what it should be to allow parking on one side,” Shuter said. Shuter said the Association is asking for the Commission to remove parking at two of the more sensitive spots, in front of the playground and at the curve. He also said he asked the Association to speak to the residents at those two locations of concern and provide documentation that they’ve been spoken about not parking there. It allegedly was done before by the previous home owners association, but no documentation could be provided. Gaff reported to Shuter via email that documentation can’t be obtained until the Association’s next meeting this month or next. City Planner Jeremy Skinner said the Commission should look at deciding if parking should be allowed on one side of the road or the other, or not along the road at all, rather than picking or choosing places for parking. Shuter said all the measurements of the streets in the subdivision are the same. As for the speed limit out there, it is currently 30 mph. Shuter said a traffic study was done in November and it showed the average speed of vehicles that traveled through in that period was 30.23 mph. “But the 85th percentile of the actual speed that went through there was 35 mph,” Shuter said. Speed limits are based on the 85th percentile of what the traffic going through a location is. Since the Commission is still waiting for information from the home owners association, Shuter asked that the issue be tabled again and it was. The ordinance on the Commission’s membership expands it from seven to nine members. Those nine members include two citizens, two Warsaw Common Council members, two WPD representatives, one Warsaw Community Schools representative, the city planner and the street department superintendent. The planner and superintendent already attend the meetings but would become voting members and have a say in the Commission’s decisions. One voting member also shall be a representative of the plan commission, which would be the city planner. Ex officio members include the mayor, city engineer and police chief. The city hall parking lot is between city hall at 102 S. Buffalo St. on the east and 199 W. Center St. on the west, and there’s an alley on the south and Center Street on the north. The parking lot ordinance states that all parking in the city hall lot “shall be reserved, by permit only, except that there shall be two hours free parking for the row closest to Center Street.” Restriction of the lot will apply weekdays between 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. unless otherwise posted by the city. Except for marked handicapped parking spaces, reserved and two-hour restrictions do not apply after hours, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Penalties in a reserved parking space or parking beyond the two-hour limit during the hours designated shall result in penalties of $10 for the first occurrence, $20 for each subsequent occurrence; and a $50 fine for each instance of a non-handicapped person’s vehicle parked in any space designated as a handicapped parking space. Fines must be paid within 30 days. Vehicles parked in reserved parking spaces that interfere with the operation of business may be towed between the hours of 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Shuter said previously the city didn’t have any parking regulations for that specific parking lot after the new city hall went in. “I think it’s definitely needed because I see a lot of abuse with people parking in people’s reserved spots,” Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins said. Mayor Joe Thallemer said it was important to have an ordinance in place before good signage could be put up so the parking officer could enforce it. In other business, the Commission: • Heard from Emans that the Market Street and Mariners Drive projects are completed as far as road construction. Skinner reported the Husky Trail roundabout project won’t be bid out until late this year or early next year. It will be determined by how well all the property acquisition goes. • Elected retired police chief and citizens representative Steve Foster to continue to serve as the board’s secretary. • Heard the next Traffic Commission meeting is at 1 p.m. Feb. 3 in the WPD Training Center. • Took the oath of office for all voting members, including new members Connie Fribley and Councilman Jack Wilhite.
