McCordsville’s Thoroughfare Plan shows what roads are listed as within the town’s limits.
MCCORDSVILLE — The go-ahead was given by the McCordsville Town Council during its November 14 meeting to create a new ordinance that would deal with parking and restrictions along ancillary and collector roads.
Tim Gropp, McCordsville town manager, told the town council he and staff looked into parking restrictions after a complaint about overcrowded parking on CR 900 N on the right-of-way. After checking HOAs and ordinances that are already established, they discovered that there wasn’t any restrictions on parking along collector roads.
Gropp said that with the roads being as narrow as they are and the speeds traveled, there should be restrictions, so he brought the idea to the Public Works Committee.
Discussed at the public works committee meeting on Nov. 13, Gropp said that this isn’t the only scenario and that it happens in other areas of the town as well.
“It’s kind of a safety issue to have cars parked along a collector road with no real edges to the road,” said Gropp at the public works committee meeting.
Explained at the public works meeting, a collector road is any of the county roads that run east to west, such as CR 900, CR 800, CR 750 and so on.
Provided on McCordsville website, they have the Thoroughfare Plan posted, which breaks down what each road is listed as inside the town’s limits.
Town council member Scott Jones, who is also on the committee, also said that he would be interested in seeing something that would prevent parking on both sides of roads that are annexed into the town and don’t meet the town standards. Jones said it becomes overwhelming at times in the area where he lives and it raises concern.
“Sometimes it is impossible to go through — packing up, turning around and going the other way,” said Jones at the public works committee meeting.
When bringing this idea to the town council, town council president Greg Brewer agreed on the idea to have staff start putting together an ordinance.
“There’s really not any shoulder. It’s a drop off,” said Brewer when talking about the collector roads from the county. “I can understand a temporary breakdown or a garage sale, something like that, but to have overnight parking or something long-term, that’s an issue.”
Town council member Dr. Bryan Burney said at the town council meeting that he thinks the ordinance should also define what are ancillary and collector roads and list the road by name to help prevent any arguments over what type of road one is while also having the Thoroughfare Plan available online to view.
During the public works committee meeting, Gropp said that once given the OK from town council to proceed with the drafting of the new ordinance and discussion of the topic at the finance committee meeting, then they’ll have the attorneys start drafting an ordinance.
Gropp said that the town council may not see the ordinance until the new year, maybe even closer to February once the draft is completed by their legal counsel and ready for the first reading.
