Push for No Parking Zone Frustrates Some Marion Residents

Marion residence spoke out against plans to eliminate parking in front of their homes during a city council meeting on Thursday evening.

The city is considering 146 feet of no parking zones on the north side of 29^th Street at the intersection of 35^th Street as a safety measure to improve visibility for drivers. The city began considering the no parking zones at the request of other residents of Summit Pointe, but several who live adjacent to the change are not happy about it.

“Being a homeowner, I don’t want to walk blocks to my house,” Holly Ranney said at the meeting.  “I want to park where my house is."

Residents complained that speeding, noise, difficulty getting out of their driveways and a lack of stopping at the stop signs are problems that already plague the neighborhood, and eliminating parking spaces will only make their lives worse.

“You have two problems: people go too fast and they tap stop. That’s your problems,” Dennis Huffer said. “I’m surprised there haven’t been 100 accidents."

For some longtime residents on the road, this was the latest blow. Expansion has converted their neighborhood from quiet surrounded by cornfields to one filled with noise and traffic and continual demands and changes from the city.

One woman told city leaders the city should buy her property.

City Council decided to table the vote and hold more discussions in the community, but how the proposal may change is unclear at this point. 

In other city news, City Council approved establishing a 25 mph speed limit on Sixth Avenue from Seventh Street to 15th Street.