Some city council members found themselves at odds with a member of the West Side Community Association on Monday night over a proposed program that would allow certain Athens citizens to apply for a 72-hour permit to park on public roads.
Joan Kraynanski, a member of the West Side Community Association first proposed a program allowing certain Athens residents to apply for exemptions from the 24-hour parking rule in October. At a November council meeting, councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th ward, expressed concern that only certain neighborhoods were being chosen, which seemed unfair.
Fahl echoed those concerns Monday night.
"We have to make sure all of this is equal under the law,” Fahl said. “I am not comfortable with it for being for only certain streets when similar challenges are present throughout the city.”
Kraynanski's original proposal would have allowed citizens in certain parts of the city's North and West sides to park their cars on the street for an unlimited amount of time, but she revised that plan after council members suggested that there should still be some limit on the number of hours a car could be parked.
Residents without any off-street parking would be able to apply for a maximum of two permits, while residents with one off-street parking spot could apply for one permit.
Those applications would be vetted by the Athens city code office and enforced by traffic workers. Violations and abuse of permits would result in revocation of the permit.
Council members also questioned how residents would feel about the program.
“I don’t think there will be a whole lot of properties that will request this,” councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd ward, said.
Kraynanski said she had called and emailed residents about the issue and received support.
Fahl said there needed to be a more formal way to gauge public support and said the city could hold a public forum.
Papai suggested increasing the parking limit from 24 hours to 72 hours across the board, and not require any citizens to obtain permits.
Council members agreed to table the issue until next month to work out those details before putting a pilot program in place.
Earlier in the meeting, council members began making plans to enhance the sidewalks on West Union Street between Congress and Court streets, where a fire burned several buildings more than two years ago.
Some of those enhancements could include kiosks to both ends of the block, maple trees and decorative flowers, benches and bike racks.
The project would cost $160,000. A portion of that, $115,000, will from the city's Street Fund.
