Parking was the main topic of discussion for the Fayette Board of Aldermen Tuesday night. Council members voted to ban parking on a portion of Oaklawn Avenue, discussed current restrictions on Spring Street, learned of an upcoming parking study, and briefly revisited the idea of a parking ban on North Church Street.

The council voted 5-1 to restrict parking on both sides of one block of Oaklawn Avenue from Morrison to Walnut streets. 

The lone dissenting vote came from Northwest Ward Alderwoman Peggy O’Connell. “I do not like banning parking,” she said.

The issue was brought up at the BOA’s previous meeting held on July 25 when Oaklawn resident Jocelyn Hutchinson addressed the council about difficulty backing out of her driveway due to parked cars along the narrow street.

Southwest Ward Alderwoman Bekki Galloway said that residents along the street with whom she had spoken with were not in favor of a parking ban. 

“None of those people I talked to at the time thought it was necessary or were in favor of it,” Galloway said. “They are adamantly opposed to parking restrictions on Oaklawn at this time.”

The council had discussed several options on July 25, which included parking bans on the entire street, one side of the street, or just a section of the street.

An ordinance must still be created and then approved before the new parking restriction becomes law. The ordinance is expected to be voted on at the council’s next meeting on Tuesday, August 22.

Two residents of Spring Street asked the council for a solution to parking restrictions currently in place. Gary and Kelly Beeler asked the council to allow at least some parking along the street. 

Both sides of the Spring Street currently ban parking, creating problems for visitor parking. They also inquired about lifting some parking bans along Linn Street, which intersects with Spring Street.

“We’d like to get it changed back to something, maybe parking on one side,” Mr. Beeler told the council. He said that he would ask others in the neighborhood their opinion on the matter and report back to the council.

Previously, resident parking was allowed on Spring Street. With the parking ban, students living in a nearby rental house are forced to park in an alley, creating more parking issues. 

“The worst part is the parking in the alley,” said Mayor Jeremy Dawson, who lives in the area.

Mrs. Beeler said she hosts a large family gathering every Christmas, and she does not want them to receive parking tickets.

Danny Dougherty, the city’s director of public works, said parking restrictions were changed too hastily on Spring Street, and perhaps the city should have made only one side no parking.

In an effort to improve parking around the square and other downtown streets, the board of the Historic Downtown Fayette Commercial Community Improvement District (CID) is planning to fund a parking study. The study will look at several aspects including parking, traffic flow, pedestrian crossings, and the consideration to make traffic one way around the square.

Former councilman and current CID board member Grafton Cook presented the information to the BOA, which gave unanimous approval to support the study. The study will be entirely funded from CID revenues.

The CID board ultimately hopes to help fund an overlay of the downtown area and repaint parking lines. This would coincide with the Missouri Department of Transportation’s plan to repave Highway 240 next year.

The final parking issue was addressed briefly during board member comments at the conclusion of the open portion of Tuesday’s meeting. East Ward Alderwoman Ronda Gerlt asked if Central Methodist University had provided a visual rendering of a proposed project to widen the section of North Church Street by campus to improve parking and sidewalks. Mrs. Gerlt has been an outspoken critic of the university’s plan, which includes cutting down a dozen trees on that section of campus to make way for the project. 

CMU President Roger Drake told the council he would provide the city with a clear visual of how the complete project will appear when the issue came to a head during a tumultuous meeting on June 27, when the council nearly banned all college parking in what is widely considered to be retaliation for the planned tree removal.

Mayor Dawson said he would reach out to the university regarding the visual rendering. 

The Board of Aldermen meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. Meetings are open, agendas are posted in advance, and the public is invited.