Scottville commission discusses downtown parking angle.

Scottville commission discusses downtown parking angle.

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By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

SCOTTVILLE — A frequent conversation at City Commission has been the angle of parking in the 100 block of South Main Street, downtown Scottville. In 2011 the streetscape was rebuilt to through funds from the Downtown Development Authority. As part of the design, the angle of parking was changed by the contractors who worked on the street, making it difficult for larger vehicles to park without the rear of the vehicle extending into the street. Since, the parking issue has been a matter of controversy and has produced many complaints at City Hall. 

The Planning Commission recently surveyed community members asking what the city should do about the angle of parking. The results were as follows:

Leave it as it is: 20%

Change angle back: 22%

Parallel parking on both sides: 18%

Parallel parking on one side and angle on the other: 22%

Other: 18% (only allow small cars to park in the 100 block of South Main Street).

“As you can see, it was a virtual tie. in what residents prefer,” City Manager Amy Williams said to the Commission during its regular meeting Monday.

“We’ve been talking about this topic every year since 2011. There’s no clear cut solution to what people want. I would like to recommend that you, as a commission, make a decision of what it is of these options that you think as a city we should do.”

Williams said she is in the process of working on the 2018-2019 budget and could budget the estimated $15,000 to re-design the parking.

Mayor Bruce Krieger said he was in favor of returning the parking angle to the way it was prior to 2011. “I can’t park my truck downtown without taking up more than parking spot,” Krieger said. “I think if we go back to the old parking angle it will probably solve our problem. I hate to see parallel parking.”

Commissioners Marcy Spencer and Ann Genson agreed with Krieger that returning to the old angle is the best option.

Commissioner Leon Begue then asked the question, what is the old angle? Begue said he was concerned that parking issues still may exist with returning to the previous parking angle.

The commission decided to have an engineer design what the change would look like and then make a decision in the near future.

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