HomeMy WebLinkAboutHandicap Parking near stadium MemoMEM4â–ºRANDUM OF DISCUSSION
June 5, 2018 (7:15-7:45 pm)
Present: Mayor Tom Nelson
Karl Koch
Councilman Iry Wilke
Councilman Bill Mountsier
Subject: Handicapped parking problem at Laurel High School
On several City Council meetings, Karl Koch has made presentations concerning
the parking problems at the handicapped parking lot located on the south side
of the Laurel High School. The parking should be angled to assist handicapped
drivers in parking their vehicles. There currently is no parking at the fence to
the rear of this area which is appropriately posted NO PARKING ANYTIME.
Koch stated that the Department of Transportation approved the 17 parking
slots provided in this lot but will not allow the number to be reduced to 10
which may alleviate some of the congestion. He feels that since the park is a
public park, both handicapped and non -handicapped persons should be allow to
park in that combination lot, however, realizing that there is not enough room
to accommodate the vast number of vehicles during school and other events.
The school administration did not plan for this parking overflow when planning
the stadium.
Signs are posted identifying the handicap lot however, vehicles parking on the
street block the view of the signs. Many of the drivers just ignore the no
parking signs as there is no enforcement of the no parking anytime zone.
Koch suggested that the problem could be resolved with angled parking and one
entry point and one exit point. There was some discussion concerning parking
at the fence to the rear of this parking lot which would make the reverse
movements from the angled parking stalls difficult since the handicapped
drivers would not have the dexterity, depth perception, of the physical ability to
turn sufficiently around and view where the illegally parked vehicles would be
located. This backing out would only be complicated more should the vehicle
be a crew cab pickup truck with an 8' bed.
Mayor Nelson stated that he would speak with Chief Rick Musson concerning
this matter and the enforcement of the parking regulations.
The old skating rink area, located to the west of Graff Elementary, was
discussed as an area which could house numerous vehicles during one of these
events. It was also mentioned that when someone has a picnic at the shelter in
that area, that parking on the street was all that was available to those
individuals.