St. Patrick Catholic parish asking for two additional spots in front of Walworth Street entrance
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
After reviewing a request from Elkhorn’s St. Patrick Catholic parish Monday for two additional handicapped parking stalls on West Walworth Street, Elkhorn’s Municipal Services and Utilities committee opted to wait on a decision until they can gather further information.
Public Works Manager Martin Nuss said Monday night despite the church’s drawing showing they have two stalls in front of the church, they currently only have one sign on Walworth Street, which he sees as being the only problem.
“It doesn’t sound like anybody has a particular problem with it,” he said. “I don’t know if they actually have two approved, maybe they were misinformed, but there’s only one sign out on Walworth right now, so they have one spot.”
City of Elkhorn Police Chief Joel Christensen said he doesn’t have any problems from a police standpoint of giving the church the extra stalls, however, he feels the city needs to keep the stall closest to the church’s old entrance as it helps to alleviate vision problems on Walworth Street.
“I don’t want to turn that other one back into a regular stall with the vision problems we have here,” he said.
City Administrator Sam Tapson said he thinks what the city ought to do is approve the additional stalls, though leave it as subject to review by the city’s police department and department of public works to determine where exactly those stalls would be placed.
“I don’t think the layout and what’s there is as critical as whether or not you’re willing to accommodate four parking stalls on street for handicapped accessibility,” he said.
Nuss said his concern is with the uncertainty of how many spaces the church has right now, he doesn’t want to run into a situation where the drawings might not properly indicate exactly what the church is looking for.
“I don’t have a problem with the additional stalls and working with somebody on how we’re going to lay it out, I don’t think that’s a big issue,” he said.
Tapson said once it was determined how many handicapped stalls the church actually has on Walworth Street, the idea would be to grant them additional stalls, totaling a number of four in front of the church.
“Whether they give you a drawing or not, the real question is can you put four on the street, are you willing to do that,” Tapson said.
Mayor Brian Olson said the additional spots were noted at a previous City of Elkhorn Plan Commission meeting, adding two further down closer to the new extension. He additionally noted with the church having future projects in mind, plans might change.
Alderman Greg Huss said he’d like to see an exact layout and have an opportunity to talk with the church about what they’re looking for.
Alderman Hoss Rehberg, who sits on the committee, said Monday night he would like to see what was discussed and what was included in what was approved when the church first took their remodel designs to the plan commission.
The committee aims to look at the topic again at a future meeting after police and the department of public works have had a chance to discuss the topic further with the church and gather more information.
