Mayor suggests banning all street parking during snow emergency

RED OAK — Proposed changes to Red Oak’s snow emergency ordinance would make it illegal to park a vehicle on all city streets before they are cleared.

Mayor Bill Billings suggested changing the ordinance at the Feb. 6 council meeting, which currently allows residents without off-street parking to park on north-south streets on even days and east-west streets on odd days.

Billings contends banning parking on all city streets during snow emergencies would eliminate confusion created by the alternating parking requirements created by the existing ordinance. He also cited increased efficiencies in removing snow, specifically mentioning the most recent storm that dumped 6 inches on Red Oak.

“If they had everybody off those streets in that 12-hour time period they were pushing snow, they could have cleared the streets,” Billings said. “By having people parking on the north/south side, there were places on the north/south streets that didn’t get cleared because the cars were parked there that could have got cleared.”

John Haidsiak, who worked for the city before retiring a few years ago, agreed with Billings.

“I can tell you it would have been a lot better if there had been absolutely no parking on these streets,” he said. “There is a lot of times that on the day you are going one way, you got those plowed, you got all kinds of traffic on other streets and about half the time, we could have got those plowed if not for those vehicles sitting there.”

While acknowledging the potential for quicker snow removal, Council Member Jeanice Lester questioned the practicality of the ordinance change.

“This would be a whole lot easier but I do have concerns of where those people are going to go,” Lester said.

Billings said he didn’t think there were a lot of residences in town without available offstreet parking such as a driveway or a yard.

However, City Admini-strator Brad Wright said it was that concern that prompted the existing exclusions.

“The discussion when we made the change the last time was … concern for people who had no reasonable place to get their vehicle or vehicles off the street onto private property whether it is in a driveway or up in the yard,” Wright said. “My concern, even though it would be so much easier to understand that way is that it would not be practical. There are too many properties that don’t have a place to go. Right now, if they don’t have a driveway, they can park down the block and around the corner.”

The Council agreed to table discussion on any changes until the Feb. 21 meeting to give citizens a chance to provide input.