Newton to update parking code

In an effort to update city code, handicapped parking and general parking throughout Newton is being addressed by city council. Council approved the final reading of the ordinance change and adopted the measure at its Monday meeting.

“Updates are being made to the city code to reflect the actual type of parking and the actual number of handicapped parking stalls in the downtown” interim city administrator Jarrod Wellik said. “The proposed handicapped parking spaces in the downtown exceed the number required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. The other proposed changes to the code are the result of recent construction.”

Parking Changes

On North Fourth Avenue West from West Eighth Street North to West 16th Street North parking will now be allowed on a 24-hour basis. The width of the street increased from 25 feet to 31 feet during the recent reconstruction allowing the unrestricted parking.

Parallel parking has replaced the former diagonal parking in the 200 block of South Second Avenue West following the recent reconstruction project on the street. In the 300 block of West Second Street North there is no longer a city right-of-way and parking in this block has been removed from the code.

Existing diagonal parking on the east side of First Street South between South Second Avenue and South Third Avenue was also not in the code but has been added.

Handicapped Parking

The recent construction project of a new building at the Newton Church of the Way has led to several spaces being modified on the north side of South Third Avenue East. Two parallel handicapped parking spaces will become six diagonal handicapped parking spaces as a part of the church project.

The new spaces will extend from the street flow line onto church property with signage on church property. The parking is considered private parking and will not be included in the city code.

On the east side of the 100 block of East Second Street North there currently exists a Sunday-only handicapped parking space. That space has been added to the code, increasing the number of handicapped spaces in the city by one.

Two handicapped spaces in the city parking lot at the northwest corner of South Third Avenue West and West Second Street South will be removed from the code because the area is too steep to meet the criteria for a handicapped space. Spaces in city parking lots at West Second Street North and North Second Avenue West are not included in the code.

Finally, for more than seven years, there has not been any handicapped parking stalls in the 300 block on the north side of North Fourth Avenue East. That area has been removed from the code.

Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com