Town Council's published agenda for Aug. 19th included one Street Committee Recommendation (this committee is comprised of Brad Stipes and Dan Canada). After addressing that item, Canada stated this would be his final meeting as a council member and so he asked to resume the downtown parking discussion.
Canada noted council had recently voted to implement restoring two-hour parking limits effective September 1st. Based on many additional hours of personal research and conversations with lots more people since then, however, he asked council to consider a new proposal.
Canada suggested a three-hour limit for all of the central business area, except in front of the Post Office where the current 10-minute limit would remain unchanged. Effective November 1, these limits would apply Monday through Friday, 8 am until 5 pm. Council should review this matter again six months after implementation (April/May 2009).
Having this start on November 1 would provide the Police Department time to determine methods of enforcement, and installation of related signage. There was some discussion about impacts on residential (overnight) parking and what the exact boundaries were for these downtown parking rules.
A motion to adopt Canada's proposed parking changes was made by Ernie Wade and seconded by Steve Huppert (notably, the two council members who serve on the Central Business District Committee), and was carried unanimously.
One individual really can make a difference, as shown by this unannounced matter being introduced and passed in less than 30 minutes.