ORDINANCE CLARIFIES WHERE ANGLED PARKING IS PERMITTED
JEREMY WALTNER – PUBLISHER
With the exception of the downtown business district and several other select locations in town, only parallel parking is allowed along city streets per a new parking ordinance approved by the Freeman City Council last week Tuesday, Sept. 7.
The ordinance was OK’d on a 5-1 vote, with councilor Charles Gering casting the lone dissenting vote.
The new ordinance states that parallel parking must be observed with the exception of the following locations, where angled parking is allowed:
Downtown area
The business district (from Fifth to Railway streets) and on the west side of Main Street in front of AMPI (Third to Plum);
In front of City Hall and Hootz (Third Street from Main to Poplar) and across from Merchants State Bank to the north (Third Street from Main to Juniper). Also, on the south side of Third Street in front of the former Blue’s Restaurant;
On the west side of Main Street adjacent to the Salem Mennonite Home (immediately north and south of the Seventh Street intersection);
On the east side of Main Street in front of the downtown motel at the corner of Fifth Street;
On the south side of Walter Funeral Home (between Juniper and Cedar);
Facing the old Haar’s Service Station on the north side of Plum (at Main and Plum);
In front of R&S Village (on Well Street);
In front of the Senior Citizen Center on the north side of the street (near Fourth and Poplar) and on the west side across from CorTrust Bank.
Elsewhere
In front of Rural Medical Clinics and the Freeman Medical Center ER (on the east side of Walnut Street);
On the north side of the St. Paul Lutheran Church (between Wipf and Relanto);
On the east side of the blocks that run past the Freeman Community Center (Wipf Street from Fourth to Second);
On front of the Missionary Church (on Albert Street near Sixth Street);
Next to the Bethlehem Reformed Church OPC (at Relanto and Third).
“I think it looks good,” said council Lonnie Tjaden after reviewing a map prepared by councilor Blaine Saarie detailing where angled parking is allowed.
Freeman Police Chief Scott Brewer said enforcement of the new ordinance will be tricky if there isn’t signage.
Tjaden said the understanding could be that parallel parking is required with the exception of designated areas.
“That would be a lot less signs,” responded Saarie.
“That would be better, because every time a new street is built it will automatically be parallel without having to identify it,” said councilor Charly Waltner. Councilor Tabitha Schoenwald wondered if painted marks where angled parking is permitted would do the trick.
“You could,” Brewer said.
“We can adopt this and we can paint,” said Tjaden. “If we say it’s parallel in this town, other than where it’s marked on the street, I don’t see a problem if we get to a point where we’ve got to start writing tickets.”
“If there are angled lines (painted), I don’t think there’s a need for signage,” said Mayor Michael Walter.
Because yellow paint used for the markings isn’t readily available, city officials say it could be a while before the painting is completed, but that it will hopefully be done yet this year.
