Wallace wants opinions on parking

WALLACE — The Wallace City Council is seeking public comments regarding the way the city handles its downtown parking throughout the year.

For years Wallace only allowed parallel curbside parking, but in April 2017 the decision was made to change the parking scheme and change a few of the blocks to diagonal parking after a 4-to-1 vote by the City Council.

In its current form, the parking system allows for the diagonal parking spots along Sixth and Cedar streets to be used from mid-April until the end of October, then during the winter months the city reverts back to parallel-only to allow for snow removal.

In December 2016, a proposal had been brought to the Council by members of the Wallace Chamber of Commerce in hopes of creating more parking spots during the busy summer months, but Wallace’s then mayor Dick Vester wanted to have the Council review the proposal and weigh the options before making a decision.

At the time, roughly 98% of Wallace business owners supported the idea of adding the diagonal spaces, due largely in part to the fact you can fit two cars diagonally in the space allotted for roughly one car to park alongside the curb.

Vester put the project in the hands of a committee consisting of Ryder Gauteraux, Heather Branstetter, Lynn Mogensen (Wallace’s current mayor), Jim Cason and Jim Roletto who did most of the leg work in figuring out the best way to implement the new parking system and had in place by May of that year.

“The times that we have needed more spots is during our busy season, so making sure those spots are available then is important and right now parking isn’t such an issue during the winter,” Vester said at the time. “We’ll review it after one or two years and see if it worked, or if it needs adjusted and we’ll go from there.”

It was a little longer than a year or two, but now the Council is reviewing the parking setup and any public comment that is received will be discussed prior to the City Council making a decision at its August meeting.

For more information, call Wallace City Hall at 208-752-1147.