BOARDMAN Changes in measuring streets are implemented

Restrictions that trustees voted to impose this week will remain.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- The township will measure curb to curb or road edge to road edge in determining which streets to consider for a parking restriction.
The township issued a news release Thursday, following up on a Wednesday night meeting attended by more than 100 residents concerned about a proposed parking ban on their streets.
Most who attended opposed the restriction.
Trustees had listed more than 100 streets that measured 22 feet or less, saying they would be considered for a parking ban on both sides. The issue was prompted by fire trucks being unable to respond to medical calls in the fall of 2003 because of cars parked along both sides of the street.
The township had measured the blacktop in determining the width, prompting complaints from many at the meeting who argued that the measurement should be from curb to curb.
Trustee chairwoman Elaine Mancini said that while many at Wednesday's meeting believed parking restrictions were a "done deal," the process continues.
The 17 streets upon which trustees voted Wednesday to restrict parking either on one or both sides, and which were the subject of public hearings earlier this year, won't be remeasured. Wednesday's vote stands.
The remaining streets will be remeasured from curb to curb, or from road edge to road edge on streets without curbs, and a new list will be compiled and announced prior to a September meeting when the issue will next be discussed, Mancini said.
Favorable reactions
The change in how the measurement will be taken pleased some residents.
"I think that's wonderful," said Patricia Eddy of Augusta Drive, one of the streets that had been on the list. "I'm pleased that they listened to the public and their concerns. I give them credit. Sometimes it's difficult to back down."
Joe Vasko of Buena Vista Avenue, one of the streets where trustees voted to restrict parking to one side, pointed out that the portion of the street where he lives is 24 feet wide while the other portion is 22 feet.
He said he wishes trustees would have decided how the measurements would be taken before they voted on the restriction on his street.
The list of streets using the new measurement method will likely be much shorter than the one that was the subject of Wednesday's meeting.
Trustee Tom Costello said trustees had used the official measurement on file in the road department. That's the measurement used for road resurfacing.
After hearing from residents, all three trustees agreed that the measurements should be curb to curb, he said.
"We're not trying to make trouble," Costello said. "I think this will eliminate half of our problems."
Trustee Kathy Miller said she thought that's how the measurement should have been done all along.
Miller voted against the restrictions on the 17 streets where parking was banned on one or both sides.
"I agree with some of the residents who said that this is a neighborhood issue to a certain extent," she said.
Miller also said she believes other options, such as making some narrow streets one-way, should have been explored.