Council OKs parking rule changes at Anson Elementary

At the tail end of a relatively short meeting last Monday night, the Marshalltown City Council approved an amendment to the parking ordinance specific to the area around Anson Elementary School in an effort to improve safety for children and parents who drop them off and pick them up.

Public Works Director Heather Thomas explained that Marshalltown Community School District (MCSD) Safety and Security Coordinator Eric Weeden and Anson Principal Staci Bergman approached her and asked for an evaluation of options to improve safety. The recommendation they ultimately arrived at is making the north side of South Street and the east side of 3rd Avenue the school unloading zones -- no parking other than school unloading times and requiring the driver to stay in their vehicle unless they have to walk their preschooler into the building.

Currently, both sides of 3rd Avenue are considered unloading zones, but the proposal would remove the west side from that designation at the school district's request. The other change would turn a short section of the south side of South Street near the 3rd Avenue intersection into a no-parking zone.

Councilor Jeff Schneider noted that his wife teaches at Anson, so he is well aware of the parking issues and hoped there would be clear signage and pavement markings to make the message clear about the no-parking areas.

In response to a question from Councilor Melisa Fonseca, Thomas said there will be about 200 feet on the south side of South Street that will be turned into a no-parking area. Schneider then asked Police Chief Chris Jones for some enforcement once the rules are put into place.

"We will help educate the public initially when we make the changes and then probably give some limited amount of time before we actually issue citations or do enforcement," Jones said. "This has been a project that's been in the works for a very long time. We've had many discussions about how to make Anson school safer for students."

Councilor Gary Thompson asked if parents had been notified, especially considering that the council was being asked to waive second and third readings of the change at the request of the MCSD. Jones reiterated that there would be educational efforts, and Thomas said Weeden and Bergman have taken a "very proactive" approach to the issue.

They have already communicated to parents not to drop their kids off on the west side of 3rd Avenue, but it continues to happen because the city has signs allowing it.

"I just want to make it very clear. The whole purpose of this is it's very dangerous for the children to be crossing both of those streets. They're both very busy. There's been a lot of close calls," Schneider said.

The motion to pass the first reading passed by a unanimous 7-0 vote, and the motion to pass the second and third reading passed by a 6-1 vote with Fonseca opposed.

After the council took its action, Bergman and Weeden spoke to the T-R about the circumstances leading up to the change.

"When I started last year, there didn't seem to be a clear dropoff of pickup routine, and being on such a busy street, that was pretty concerning. And so we made some changes last year," Bergman said. "We put a full-time morning monitor out there and then afterschool supervision as well."

The major issue was cars parking on both sides of South 3rd Avenue with two-way traffic still passing through, especially with Marshalltown High School (MHS) only a few blocks further to the south. In some instances, kids would run across the street and not use the crosswalk, and despite administration asking parents not to park on the west side, there was nothing official in city ordinances compelling them to do so. With the council's move and the legal publication in the T-R last Friday, that has now changed, and signage will soon reflect it.

During a meeting with Weeden, he walked Bergman through the steps on how to make the change official, and Weeden said he utilized drone footage to illustrate the problem and provide a clear picture of it.

"These issues that we're talking about today aren't anything new. They've been going on a long time, and just like Staci said, we're at that point where when you've had near misses, it's time to get the city (involved) and get it official," Weeden said.

They emphasized that initially, they will work to educate parents and students about the changes in partnership with law enforcement before tickets are issued. Bergman feels that it will be "a win for everyone" and improve the flow of traffic in addition to making the area safer.

Contact Robert Maharry at (641) 753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.