The Bright Side
Overnight and Winter Parking Regulations.
In reviewing the City of Lake Geneva’s overnight and winter parking regulations, there are two issues, one of which contradicts a city ordinance. The posted list of overnight and winter parking rules specifically states that: “Overnight parking is prohibited in all city lots.” However, section 74-209-d-(1&2) specifically exempts the free Sage Street Municipal Parking Lot D from the overnight restriction. Lot D is across the street from City Hall and adjacent to the Museum parking.
The other issue, and of greater concern, is how winter parking regulations relate to downtown parking. The statement reads: “Vehicles may not park on the street until the snow has been plowed to the curb line.” Which is fine, except with the city’s new policy of first plowing the snow in the downtown streets into the street parking area adjacent to the curb, it makes it illegal for anyone to even park in the downtown area until several days later when the street department gets around to its lowest priority level, the removal of snow from the downtown street parking. The solution is to specify that the snow plowed in the downtown area should be plowed to the center of the street (for later removal). This maintains both the current priority, but allows residents and visitors to have parking spaces that are safer to walk to and from their cars and free from having a mound of snow to step over.
The practice of center plowing in the City of Lake Geneva was developed over the years by experienced street department employees and it was found to be the most effective and safest strategy for snow removal in the downtown area of the City of Lake Geneva. Of course, after being plowed to the center it needs to be removed, as well as clearing pedestrian crosswalks which should have been done overnight but both were delayed an extra day during the last snowfall. The street department needs to review the current policy and consider changing back to the time verified method used for heavy snowfall removal as was done under Ron Carstensen, a previous head of the street department.
Snow Removal
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