Hearing from the neighbors on North Street in Plymouth caused members of the Board of Public Works and Safety to change their direction on the request of Winona Building Projects to restrict parking on a portion of North Street.
At the last Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, member heard from a representative of Winona who said they are beginning to ramp up production and semis coming to the plant at the corner of Western Avenue and North Street are being directed onto Michigan Street to North Street. She asked to restrict parking to make it easier to semis to turn at the corner.
Monday evening the public had a chance to voice their thoughts.
Tyson Edwards owns the home at 1101 North Michigan Street. He told members the renters in the home use north street to park because they were ticketed for parking in front of their garage in the driveway because the vehicle blocked the sidewalk.
Ashley Garcia who lives two homes south of the intersection told the board her family uses North Street for parking because she shares a driveway with the neighbor. She encouraged members to consider that North Street is a true residential neighborhood with lots of families and kids. Garcia asked members to consider safety and traffic congestion. She told them commercial traffic puts kids in the neighborhood at risk and the big trucks cause traffic congestion. The mother of four asked the Board of Works to consider urging Winona to have their trucks use the designated truck route, Hoham Drive to Western Avenue.
Three others voiced their concerns on restricting parking causing them to have to walk farther to their homes and saying that restrictions on parking will only encourage semi traffic.
The board heard their concerns and voted unanimously to deny the request of Winona Building Products.
The Board of Works wants to work with Winona to help educate their driver in using Hoham Drive to Western Avenue and even asked Street Superintendent Jim Marquardt to look at signing a designated truck route. He also suggested posting a sign at Plum and North Street keeping semi traffic from leaving the plant and hearing east on North Street to Michigan Street.
