T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Work on the Reimagine Miller project is underway, and during Monday night’s meeting, and during Monday night’s meeting, the Marshalltown city council discussed a series of proposed changes in parking rules and intersection controls to accommodate the ongoing construction.

The second of just two discussion items on Monday night’s Marshalltown city council agenda pertained to stop signs and parking rules around Miller Middle School as the construction project shifts into high gear after the successful passage of a bond issue in November of 2024.

Public Works Director Heather Thomas explained that the changes would be temporary, and affected property owners have been notified with fliers on their cars advising them to provide written comments ahead of time or attend the council meeting to share concerns. No one showed up to speak at the meeting.

From there, Thomas laid out the proposed changes — first, a request for all-way stop control at the intersection of 12th Street and Linn Street through the 2026-2027 school year due to the increase in construction traffic. The next point was two sections of street where on-street parking changes are being requested — South 12th Street from West Boone to West Linn (currently alternate side parking, but the school district is requesting no parking on either side) and 11th Street from West Nevada to West Boone (requesting to only allow parking on the west side and not allow parking on the east side).

“The one concern from city staff is that especially during the winter, obviously, the cars are always going to be parked on one side of the street. Then they would be allowed to park there at all times, so from a snow removal standpoint, there’s a little bit of a concern there. I don’t think it’s something that we can’t overcome,” Thomas said. “This is one of the reasons why we reached out to those property owners so if there was a strong objection to it, they would have the ability to make their voices heard. We did not receive any written comments, and so because we didn’t receive any written comments or objections from property owners, the city is not opposed to this.”

Councilor Gary Thompson asked about the enforcement and ticketing of parking rules violations, and in response, Thomas said they aren’t “waiving” any rules but will potentially have to put in more effort to make sure rules are followed. In response to another question from Thompson, Police Chief Chris Jones told the council the MPD is on the same page with the public works staff on the temporary rules. After another clarifying question from Councilor Greg Nichols and with no public comments, Nichols motioned to move forward before Thomas presented one final change — eliminating one row of parking in the center of the street on 11th Street and shifting the drive lane for southbound traffic into that lane while putting a barrier out into the street.

Nichols then reintroduced the same motion with the update, and it passed by a unanimous vote.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.