MONROE - The Monroe Main Street Board of Directors voted unanimously Monday to support the city in any decisions it makes regarding the size of parking spaces or width of driving lanes around the downtown Square.
On Feb. 15, the city's Public Safety Committee discussed concerns about downtown Square parking difficulties and adequate room for fire protection. Those concerns were not resolved at the committee meeting, and Main Street Executive Director Barb Nelson offered to present the issue to the Main Street Board.
Monroe Main Street is an advisory board, and has no authority to make city policy decisions, according to Chairman David Riese.
"We don't have the profession capability nor the responsibility to tell the city what width (the streets) or the parking regulations should be," he said.
Riese said city's police and fire departments, as well as department heads, had met three times while plans for reconstruction were being drawn up prior to construction downtown.Ryan Wilson, a member of Monroe Main Street board and an employee of the engineering firm, Fehr-Graham and Associates, which oversaw the reconstruction project, said the city had certain criteria for the reconstruction plans, one of which was keeping the historical authenticity of the Square.
"I assure you, the parking spaces are the same width, to the inch, and the same angle," he said.
Wilson verified that the Square lost a total of 1.5 feet of parking or driving width for a median. The median was shifted slightly more to the inner lanes, he said.
Chief Daryl Rausch told the Public Safety Committee last month that he measured Square street widths of between 12 and 14 feet.
Driving lanes require a minimum of 12 feet, according to City Engineer Supervisor Al Gerber.
State codes require fire lanes to be 20 feet wide, but the Square does not have fire lanes.
A fire lane on the outside lanes of the Square would not help, Rausch said.
A staging site for fire trucks and equipment would need to be on the inside lanes, outside of a danger zone near a building in the event it collapsed, at a downtown fire, Rausch said. He also added that fire trucks are able to get to the inner lanes easier since the reconstruction changed accessibility to those lanes.
The Fire Department has had at least one truck on the outside lane of Square in the past month.
On Feb. 15, the city's Public Safety Committee discussed concerns about downtown Square parking difficulties and adequate room for fire protection. Those concerns were not resolved at the committee meeting, and Main Street Executive Director Barb Nelson offered to present the issue to the Main Street Board.
Monroe Main Street is an advisory board, and has no authority to make city policy decisions, according to Chairman David Riese.
"We don't have the profession capability nor the responsibility to tell the city what width (the streets) or the parking regulations should be," he said.
Riese said city's police and fire departments, as well as department heads, had met three times while plans for reconstruction were being drawn up prior to construction downtown.Ryan Wilson, a member of Monroe Main Street board and an employee of the engineering firm, Fehr-Graham and Associates, which oversaw the reconstruction project, said the city had certain criteria for the reconstruction plans, one of which was keeping the historical authenticity of the Square.
"I assure you, the parking spaces are the same width, to the inch, and the same angle," he said.
Wilson verified that the Square lost a total of 1.5 feet of parking or driving width for a median. The median was shifted slightly more to the inner lanes, he said.
Chief Daryl Rausch told the Public Safety Committee last month that he measured Square street widths of between 12 and 14 feet.
Driving lanes require a minimum of 12 feet, according to City Engineer Supervisor Al Gerber.
State codes require fire lanes to be 20 feet wide, but the Square does not have fire lanes.
A fire lane on the outside lanes of the Square would not help, Rausch said.
A staging site for fire trucks and equipment would need to be on the inside lanes, outside of a danger zone near a building in the event it collapsed, at a downtown fire, Rausch said. He also added that fire trucks are able to get to the inner lanes easier since the reconstruction changed accessibility to those lanes.
The Fire Department has had at least one truck on the outside lane of Square in the past month.