Jackson Ave. Parking Decision Delayed

Banning parking on Jackson Avenue would only make traffic problems worse along that small stretch of road, some neighbors said this week.

Dave Crosby said cars parked on the street actually slow down the traffic between Wilbur and Bowdish roads.

“If you remove that parking, you’re going to have a raceway,” Crosby told Spokane County Commissioners.

Neighbors in the small area northwest of Pines Road and Interstate 90 petitioned the county commissioners this summer for the no-parking zone.

Thirty people signed a letter saying the pavement in front of their homes on Jackson Avenue is too narrow to safely allow parking on the street. There is a gravel strip on the south side of the road.

When cars line the street, the lanes are too small and could slow emergency vehicles, they said. The narrow pavement, overflow parking from the apartment complex across the street and speeding traffic makes the road very dangerous.

At the hearing, others said the parking ban would just chase the problems around the corner. People from the apartment complex would just park on Bowdish Road instead.

Commissioners agreed earlier this summer to forbid parking on the corner where Jackson Avenue curves to become Wilbur Road, but could not consider extending the ban down the block because it was not advertised to the public. And county engineers said it wasn’t necessary because the road is 38-40 feet wide which technically gives people room to park safely.

County commissioner Kate McCaslin tried to propose a compromise at the meeting this week, but each time she started to make a motion on the ban someone in the audience would interrupt in protest.

Finally, commissioners agreed to postpone the decision for two weeks so they can consider what would be the best compromise.

Barbara Howard, who has been the force behind the request to ban parking, said she was surprised by the decision. She thought commissioners were planning to pass the request.

No one spoke against the request at previous hearings, and some who said they opposed the ban this week had signed the petition earlier this year, she said.

“I would never have gone through with this mess if I knew they hadn’t been in favor of it,” Howard said.

There have been at least four wrecks near Howard’s house in the last year and in October a car crashed through her fence when it swerved to avoid a parked car, she said.

“If they are not going to (ban parking) on both sides they might as well leave it alone,” Howard said.

However, she suggested that a four-way stop sign at Jackson and Bowdish could help slow traffic down.

Commissioners will make a decision on the parking ban in about two weeks.