Trustees set ban, limits on parking

They want to have access that's at least 10 feet wide on every street.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Trustees banned parking on both sides of seven township streets, restricted it to one side of 10 others and will decide on the permissibility of parking on more than 100 others in September.
The streets where parking restrictions were implemented by a vote of the trustees Wednesday were the subject of public hearings earlier this year.
Trustees Elaine Mancini and Tom Costello voted to ban parking on both sides of Beechwood, Maple and Homestead drives and Leighton, Melrose, Sciota and Erskine avenues. Trustee Kathy Miller voted against it.
Costello said that residents who attended the hearings on those streets supported the full ban.
Mancini and Costello also voted to implement the parking ban on one side of the remaining streets that were the subject of hearings: Afton, Buena Vista, Romaine, Stanton, Woodrow and Woodview avenues and Shadyside, Terrace and Willow drives.
Miller again voted no.
Residents of streets being considered for some kind of parking restriction attended the meeting en masse, most opposed to a ban on parking on both sides of their street.
Well over 100 streets were on the list of those considered for restriction because they measure 22 feet wide or less.
Mancini said fire trucks and snow plows had difficulty navigating narrow streets with vehicles parked on one or both sides.
"Our main goal here is to get 10 feet open on every street," Mancini said.
Suspicious assessment
Many residents questioned the measurement of their streets.
Jack Mayo of Mayo and Associates, who lives on Augusta Drive, which is also on the list of 100 streets, named several streets on the list that he developed. He insists they are 24 feet wide.
He said he was including 22 feet of blacktop pavement in the measurement, plus the concrete along the side.
Larry Wilson, road superintendent, said the measurement is taken only on what is considered surface road. However, Patricia Eddy, also of Augusta, said people park on the concrete next to the curb.
John Brown III of Tanglewood Drive, said parking has never been a problem on his street.
"We do use common sense on our street," Brown said.
Scott Johnston of South Cadillac Drive said that he wouldn't have bought his house eight years ago if he'd known that parking was going to be banned.
Johnston said cars speed down the street.
"Several of us intentionally park on the street to slow down the traffic," he said.
Deciding width
Mancini said the township will consult with the Mahoning County engineer's office and the state to determine what constitutes a street width. The remaining streets with a width of 22 feet or narrower will considered by trustees at a meeting in September.
The restrictions enacted Wednesday night will go into effect Aug. 6, but won't be enforced until signs announcing the ban have been erected.
Mancini said residents may submit petitions with signatures of at least 51 percent of homeowners to change restrictions once they're imposed.
However, she acknowledged that trustees likely wouldn't approve a change to reinstate parking on both sides of a narrow street because of safety.