COMMUNITY Parking restriction street list shortened

An earlier list included more than 100 streets proposed for parking restrictions.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- After a change in the method for measuring street width, the list of township roadways to be considered for parking restrictions has been whittled to 85.
Trustees will meet at 6 p.m. Aug. 10 in the township government center to discuss implementing a parking ban on both sides or on the hydrant side of the streets.
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 width of the streets involved was measured at 22 feet or less.
The list originally had numbered more than 100. However, at a meeting earlier this month, residents of many of those streets registered their opposition and contested the widths.
Ascertaining measurements
The township had been using the measurements on file with the road department, which measured the blacktop for paving. Many residents had argued the measurement should be from curb to curb.
The trustees then announced that restrictions would be considered for streets measuring 22 feet or less in width from curb to curb, or from road edge to road edge on streets where there isn't a curb.
"These are the official measurements -- 22 feet or less from curb to curb or from asphalt edge to asphalt edge," said Curt B. Seditz, township administrator.
Seditz said that some of the streets don't have hydrants, so the side where a restriction would be implemented was determined based on the routes to the streets recommended by the fire department.
If trustees act on the restrictions, they would become effective 30 days after the vote, but couldn't be enforced until signs announcing the restriction are posted.
After the effective date, residents may petition trustees with signatures from at least 51 percent of property owners to modify the restrictions.