By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
At the request of Andy Gehl, president of Contract Comestibles, the East Troy Village Board approved no parking zones on Beulah Avenue and Elm Street from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Gehl asked the board for the no parking zones to accommodate the semi-truck traffic in and out of Contract Comestible during the day for the purpose of making deliveries to the company.
Gehl said he was concerned with the close proximity of the cars to the corner of the intersection of Beulah and Elm, often associated with Mass times and funerals at St. Peter’s Apostle Church, which is located across the street from his business.
“We are concerned that an accident is inevitable without some modification of the parking layout and/or traffic flow,” Gehl wrote in an email to Police Chief Alan Boyes.
After meeting with Gehl and viewing the streets in question, Boyes recommended to the board that two no parking zones be created. The first for about 50 feet on the west side of Beulah between Elm Street (north) and Elm Street (south) and the second for another 50 feet from the corner of Beulah on the south side of Elm.
Boyes said this would allow trucks to negotiate the corner and should eliminate the possibility of a semi hitting a parked car.
Trustee Dustan Stanford voiced concern that limiting the parking in front of St. Peter’s would cause problems for some of the elderly church goers who often use street parking to get as close to the church as they can.
Stanford acknowledged Contract Comestibles had been a “good neighbor” to St. Peter’s, allowing the church to use its parking lot on Sundays for overflow parking, and didn’t want to put any undue burden on the company, but was still concerned about taking away the street parking.
“For the elderly people, it’s the best place to park,” Stanford said.
A representative from St. Peter’s reiterated that the street parking was used frequently by elderly members of the church, some of whom were severely disabled. She reminded the board the parking in front of the church rectory had already been taken away and that she felt this was going to make it even harder for many of the church members to find parking close enough for their needs.
Stanford agreed with her, but in the end said he felt it was the village’s responsibility to work with local businesses to encourage growth and Contract Comestibles has been a good neighbor to the church so it was time to support the company.
Who should pay
The board formed an ad hoc committee to look at the feasibility of eliminated special assessments for public work improvements to properties in the village. The upcoming Mill Street roadwork to be performed by the Department of Public Works was at the crux of the issue with some board members saying they would prefer to keep the ordinances as they are with property owners paying for the improvements to their properties.
Other board members thought the village should change the way the improvements are funded, moving toward a referendum to change the ordinances to allowing taxpayers to pay in a little bit every year and eliminating the special assessments, which can be burdensome.
The ad hoc committee will look at the various options in the next several months and bring some “hard numbers” to the board as President Randy Timss requested, so the members can make an informed decision as to how they should proceed.
