AGENDA #4g
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Response to a Petition Requesting Removal of Metered Parking on North Graham Street in front of the Knotts Funeral Home
DATE: May 24, 2004
The following report is in response to a petition from Mr. W.H. Knotts requesting removal of parking meters in front of the Knotts Funeral Home on North Graham Street.
The attached ordinance would replace a currently metered parking space with an unmetered loading/unloading zone on the west side of North Graham Street in front of the Knotts Funeral Home.
The Manager recommends that the Council enact the attached ordinance.
At its May 10, 2004 meeting, the Town Council received and referred a petition (Attachment #1) from Mr. W.H. Knotts, 113 North Graham Street, requesting removal of parking meters in front of the Knotts Funeral Home on North Graham Street. In his petition and in discussions with Town staff, Mr. Knotts expressed the following concerns:
Properties along North Graham Street in this area are primarily small businesses. North Graham Street serves as a connector street between West Rosemary Street and West Franklin Street. Metered on-street parking is allowed on both sides of the street, including in front of the Knotts Funeral Home. Please see Attachment #2 for an area map.
Town staff visited the area and met with Mr. Parker, the director of Knotts Funeral Home, to review the issues of concern. It was determined from this discussion that the parking meter of most concern is located in front of the main door to the funeral home. Town staff concluded upon review that this meter would indeed cause inconvenience for traffic and pedestrians during funeral services, and that this area near the front door was best suited for loading and unloading.
Town staff also discussed other metered parking spaces near the funeral home with regard to problems expressed by the petitioner concerning clients needing to put coins in the meters during funeral activities. The Town Parking Services Division has agreed not to enforce the metered parking spaces in the vicinity of the funeral home during funeral services and associated activities, provided that the funeral home calls and advises them of the dates and times of those services and activities. Such arrangements are traditional and allowed at other funeral service locations in Town. Mr. Parker agreed that this would be acceptable to the funeral home.
Upon review of the Machine Technology site on east side of the North Graham Street, we found that metered parking spaces exist north and south of the Machine Technology building, but not directly in front of the building. We determined that meters were not on this segment of the street due to the locations of existing driveways as shown on the attached map (Attachment #2).
CONCLUSION
We believe that the request to remove metered on-street parking in front of the Knotts Funeral Home is reasonable. The Town Parking Services Division has agreed to work with the funeral home to accommodate parking during funeral services. We have discussed our findings and recommendations with the Knotts Funeral Home Director, and he concurs.
RECOMMENDATION
The Manager recommends that the Council enact the attached ordinance that would replace a metered parking space with a loading/unloading zone on the west side of North Graham Street in front of the Knotts Funeral Home.
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 21-35, LOADING AND UNLOADING OF DELIVERY VEHICLES, OF CHAPTER 21 OF THE TOWN CODE OF ORDINANCES (2004-05-24/O-5)
BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill as follows:
Section 1. Section 21-35 of the Town Code of Ordinances, “Loading and unloading of delivery vehicles”, is hereby amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:
“(m) The space along the west side of North Graham Street from a point 187 feet north of northern curb line of West Franklin Street to a point 217 feet north of northern curb line of West Franklin Street”
Section 2. This ordinance shall become effective July 1, 2004.
This the 24th day of May, 2004.