Parking will be banned on a stretch of Elmira’s Centre Street under a plan that this week won tentative approval from Woolwich Council.
Acting on residents’ concerns, the township is now drafting a bylaw to allow parking only on one side of the roadway between Church and Mill streets. The goal is to allow easier passage along the road, which offers little room to spare when cars are parked opposite each other on both sides of the street.
As originally proposed by clerk Christine Broughton Tuesday night, the bylaw would have prohibited parking on a 50-metre portion south of Church Street. It’s there that the road is narrowest – typical streets have four metres for each of the two lanes of travel, whereas that southbound segment of it is just 3.2 metres wide. A pitch from residents, however, prompted councillors to clear a longer route.
“Right now, you’d have a hard time getting a pickup truck through. A fire truck would never get through there,” said Jody Leis of 3 Centre St.
Neighbour Doug Sherritt of 10 Centre St. called on the township to extend the no-parking zone from Church Street all the way to Mill Street, citing navigation issues and access problems for residents backing out of their driveways.
Coun. Ruby Weber, who supported the change along with the rest of her colleagues, questioned the need for people to be parking their cars on both sides of the road when the Mill Street parking lot is nearby.
Councillors instructed staff to draft a new bylaw, circulating the proposal to area residents for feedback before bringing it back for a vote.
