Parking can be a headache, especially for visitors, shoppers and employees vying for available spaces with adequate time limits in a busy downtown with several small businesses or near a school. Two areas of concern — the North Main Street business district and Cameron Road — have come to the forefront of attention in Rice Lake, especially downtown where police have increased enforcement of parking regulations by issuing $25 citations. Solutions to parking time limitations that work for the best of everyone are often elusive, making decisions regarding regulations a difficult proposition.
Main Street Owners and employees of downtown businesses addressed the Rice Lake City Council meeting Tuesday evening to discuss the hurdles they must leap to comply with parking time limits to avoid receiving a $25 citation. A two-hour time limitation at city parking Lot No. 6, located at 11 W.
Messenger St., was particularly called into question. The lot’s time limit is enforced from 7 a.
m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday with no parking allowed between 2-7 a.m. Darcy Musil, owner of Two Sisters Boutique that backs onto Lot No.
6, was among the people who addressed the City Council, saying her employees have received citations for parking there for more than two hours. The lot now sits empty every day, she said. “People are afraid to park there,” Musil stated.
However, the option to park in 24-hour parking Lot No. 5, located behind Dairy State Bank at 37 S. Main St.
, will not be a.