MARION -- The Marion City Council is mulling a proposal to limit parking on Market Street to one side of the street only, in order to make the street safer for cars and trucks.
The council held a public hearing Monday night, where City Planner Glenn Clarida explained that at 34½ feet, Market Street is about 10 feet too narrow to allow parking on both sides of the street, according to guidelines from the American Association of Highway Engineers.
Good-sized trucks "have to pull their mirrors in," to get down the street, Clarida added.
"We have identified a safety issue, and it's not a new problem," said Mayor Mike Absher as he opened the hearing, held just before Monday's regular City Council meeting.
Clarida said according to the Marion Police Department, there had been 16 traffic wrecks on North Market Street between August 2014 and Aug. 1, 2019. Around half of those were hit-and-runs, he noted.
That stretch of Market averages about 4,500 vehicles per day and South Market averaged about 3,400, Clarida added.
Vince Adams, owner of Adams Shoes at 410-412 N. Market, objected to the proposal and said his business would be hard hit if parking spaces were eliminated.
"I don't have that many parking spaces as it is," Adams said. "Please don't take the west side. That's our lifeline."
The mayor's Chief of Staff Cody Moake said he surveyed other businesses, and most were in agreement that parking needed to be eliminated on one side, though one other business on North Market, Doug's Lock and Key, wanted the east side spots kept and not the west side.
No action was taken at Monday's hearing. The parking issue will come up for a vote at a future council meeting.
