Parking-related ordinances adopted by city

Monday, March 15, 2021
Mayor Bill Dory

Four of a kind beats a traffic flush under city ordinances dealing with some measure of downtown parking.

Enacted into local law, the four ordinances were adopted on second and final reading by the Greencastle City Council at its March meeting. They went into effect upon adoption (or more reasonably when the posted signage can be put up).

Changes to city ordinances involving loading zones, handicap parking spots, no-parking zones and limited parking areas were all adopted without any real discussion. In fact, while significant discussion occurred among the Council at its February meeting, the March adoption went off without a discouraging word.

Among the parking changes in store for downtown Greencastle will be restricting parking along the north side of Washington Street to 65 feet east of the Indiana Street intersection, leaving just one parking space remaining to the west of the existing alley between the old and new buildings of Old National Bank.

Mayor Bill Dory, however, said city officials are continuing to talk with affected property owners about the possibility of closing that alley entrance, which he has called “not very safe.” Closing off the alley would add at least one additional parking space along the north side of Washington Street.

That is important to traffic flow since all it has taken previously is for one westbound vehicle to pause for a left turn at the stoplight to back traffic up so that nobody gets through the intersection. By removing a couple of parking spaces along the north side of Washington Street traffic can flow past the left-turn artists.

Overall, four ordinances -- 2021-2, amending the list of city loading zones; 2021-3, regarding reserved handicap parking; 2021-4, amending the list of no-parking zones; and 2021-5, amending the list of limited parking zones -- were unanimously adopted on second and final reading.

In short, the parking changes downtown include:

• Washington Street, north side, along Old National Bank – Removing one or two spaces at the Indiana Street end of the block (65 feet back).

• Washington Street, from Indiana to Vine south side – Removing one space at the Vine Street end of the block for better sight distance.

• Walnut Street, from Indiana to Vine north side – Removing one regular parking space at the west end of the block, sliding the handicapped space 37 feet east to provide better turning radius for fire trucks.

• Walnut Street, from Indiana to Jackson – Moving parking from the north side of the street to the south side. This would add 3-5 spaces of on-street parking along Walnut, west of Indiana. Would still allow for one 60-foot-long loading zone that can accommodate semis along the north side of the street.

• Indiana Street -- Adding two handicap spaces along the west side of the street immediately north of the courthouse crosswalk.

• Vine Street parking lot -- Adding two spaces at the southwest corner of the lot and one at the northeast corner of the lot.

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