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 as safe once winter arrives with its ice-covered roads and darkness descends before the end of the business day, Musil said. Krista Lillyblad at Moongate, a business near Two Sisters Boutique, said they have been parking in Lot No. 6 for years and “out of the blue” have begun to receive tickets.
She asked that the lot’s time limitations be increased to 12 or 24 hours, and perhaps Main Street slots should be upped from two to four hours to give people more time to shop. But Tim Bodis, owner of Diamond Designs by Bodis at 230 N. Main St.
, would prefer parking times be expanded in lots rather than on Main Street. Part of the reason why slots are limited to two- or four-hour spans is to help make parking space available throughout the day. Library Director Rachel Thomas said she would love to see the time limitation at Lot No.
11 at 12 E. Marshall St. extended beyond two hours to benefit patrons, but she realizes that if people park and don’t leave, it leaves no space for incoming patrons.
Council Member Gina Sookiayak said she had driven around downtown, and saw empty lots and spaces for people to park elsewhere. She also hasn’t heard from downtown apartment tenants and doesn’t want to see a “park wherever, whenever” policy. Sookiayak believed in keeping Main Street parking limits at two hours and said people need to be educated to know where to park.
She also liked the idea of giving permits to employees and tenants. Jim Anderson, the director of the city’s Community Services Department, said 24-hour lots are horrendous to keep plowed and sometime people think they are allowed to park their cars there “forever.” The uptick in the number of citations being issued is a result of the Police Department hiring people who can devote time to the task, and Sookiayak asked Police Chief Steven Roux if the police could hold off on issuing tickets in Lot No.
6 until the city had a parking plan in place. Roux said he could consider the request but reminded the council that he also fields complaints from people upset when the parking ordinance isn’t enforced. There’s a reason the city has parking ordinances, plus there’s a process to change them, he continued — and there’s a process for contesting citations.
When asked about giving written warnings, Roux said people seldom change their behavior after receiving a warning but will comply after getting a citation. Adjusting time limitations for Lot No. 6 will be addressed at an upcoming City Council meeting while an overall parking plan is considered.
Cameron Road Meanwhile Roux asked about adjusting parking regulations on Cameron Road near Hilltop Elementary School and the Middle School. The police chief brought forward an amendment to the parking ordinances to improve safety in the area of the schools and future Recreation Center. The change includes signing the west side of Cameron Road from A&R Street to Carson Street from no parking to student drop-off and pickup zone only.
Parking would be prohibited on Cameron Road between A&R Street and High Street on the west side, and from High Street to Carson Street on the east side, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.
m. Monday through Friday, Aug. 25 to June 1.
Sookiayak did not want parking limited for dropping off and picking up students throughout the day, saying people should be able to park in that zone between the start and end of the school day. The council failed to take action to adopt the first reading of an ordinance amending the parking regulations..
