The city's Transportation and Traffic Commission unanimously voted against removing parking inside two curves along Merlin Drive after neighbors shared mixed reactions for the request.
Resident Courtney Hall requested the commission remove parking from both sides of the street in the curves at Cimarron and Merlin drives, and Carousel and Merlin drives. There is a 125-degree curve onto Cimarron Drive from Merlin Drive and a 90-degree curve onto Carousel Drive from Merlin Drive, according to city staff.
When vehicles park along the narrow curves, Hall said, it limits the sight distance, making it unsafe to drive.
"It's not safe going up (the curves), and I've almost been hit head-on several times," resident Brandi Phillips said during Thursday's meeting. "It's very dangerous. I go past that corner (of Merlin and Cimarron drives) every day and it scares me every day."
Hall and Phillips added adults and children walk along the street and were worried a vehicle could hit them due to the decreased sight distance.
Other neighborhood residents said the request was unwarranted and would create a burden on those with driveways since many are not wide enough to have two cars side-by-side, meaning guests would have to back out their vehicles and block the street to let other drivers pull out of driveways.
They added placing a parking restriction was unnecessary since the area is primarily lightly traveled and there have not been car accidents associated with parking along those curves. City staff confirmed there has not been an accident associated with parking along the curves in the last 10 years.
"It seems silly for such a neighborhood that's so quiet (to have parking restrictions)," resident Clint Stratman said. "We'd hate to restrict parking in such a neighborhood."
The street is about 31 feet wide in the curves, making it narrower than the minimum for parking on both sides but wider than the minimum for one-sided parking, according to city staff. The recommended minimum for two-sided parking is 34 feet and 27 feet for one-sided parking.
City Design Engineer Tia Griffin said city staff would only support removing parking on one side of the curves if there was strong neighborhood support.
"That might be a good balance between leaving all of it or taking all of it," she said.
Some residents on both sides of the issue said they would be in support of restricting parking to one side. However, a few individuals showed resistance to this idea, saying they thought restricting parking would still create a burden since drivers may have to park farther down the street.
After the commission voted down the request, Phillips said it was a "disappointing conclusion."
While he was pleased the commission decided to keep parking along the street, Chris Wilson said he thought the neighborhood should continue addressing the problem.
"I think we can solve the issue among ourselves and increase the visibility around the curve but not totally block parking," he said. "We want to keep the neighborhood cohesion and keep it together instead of having to use city government to restrict us even further. It is a good neighborhood and there's a lot of good people and we work well together, so I think in this case, this is the best approach. Just be good with your neighbors and work with them and everyone will be a lot happier."
Also on Thursday, the commission approved permanently keeping the 100 block of Madison Street four-hour parking. Since January, the city temporarily changed the parking from a two-hour limit to a four-hour limit as a trial.
The permanent change helps docents and other volunteers working at the Governor's Mansion and the Cole County Historical Society, Jefferson City Operation Division Director Britt Smith said. During the trial period, the city did not receive negative feedback about the change, and the number of tickets parking enforcement officials wrote for those individuals decreased, he added.