Curb marking debated at Frackville council
By Kaylee Lindenmuth
FRACKVILLE – Following the elderly housing project presentation, Frackville council moved on to regular monthly business, of which included painting curbs.
Whether to mark 15 or 30 feet from intersections, and how to mark them were questions debated by council Wednesday evening.
Councilman Stephen Tertel brought up the subject, seeking a decision from council on what action would be taken.
The matter was last raised at council in June, at the request of Chief Rick Bell, for the purposes of enforcement.
Council discussed options of painting curbs yellow, painting hashes at the ends of the no parking zone, or large X’s across the roadway. Also discussed was the length of the no parking zone.
“In the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code, it states there is to be a no parking zone 30 feet to the approach of a stop sign, and 15 feet to the approach of an intersection,” said Bell.
Council president Ron Jordan noted that, in over 50 years living in Frackville, he’d never seen curbs painted yellow, and expressed concerns in employing 30 feet zones.
“You’re going to take half of blocks in this town away (with 30 feet),” said Jordan. “Every block that has a stop sign, today, is one car length, 15 feet, roughly. In Frackville, almost every block has a stop sign, so every block is going to lose a parking space somewhere,” adding that with difficulty parking in the winter, it’d cause more difficulties.
The primary concern raised is enforcement, with Bell noting that, without the markings, his officers would have to measure out the zones each time they attempt to ticket a car in such an unmarked zone.
“If we have it marked out 15 feet, and we have a hash mark, there’s going to be no argument when we go to court when we say they were parked with half of their vehicle in front of the hash mark,” said Bell to council.
Also noted was consistency. According to Bell, the borough has a variety of markings in use, from the X’s across intersections, perpendicular lines noting the zone, painted curbs, and non-painted curbs.
After a short discussion, it was motioned and approved that 15 feet zones would be marked out at each intersection via 3′ by 6″ hash marks.
In other business, borough council:
- Renewed the police protection contract with the borough of Gilberton for the remainder of 2018.
- Noted that a special meeting would be held around July 30.
- Approved bolting down picnic tables at Memorial Park to the gazebo.
- Noted the tennis courts at Memorial Park would be resurfaced and painted green with red trim
- Approved the resignation of a seasonal worker.
- Noted that the current pavilion at the pool would be moved and used for borough storage.
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