City votes to pull parking on River Valley

FORT MADISON – In an effort to mitigate some migrating parking issues being caused by the traffic flow of families driving in and out of the Fort Madison elementary school, city officials voted Tuesday night to remove parking from the south side of River Valley Road.
School and city officials have been made aware of parents parking along that road and clogging up traffic along that stretch of roads where condominiums and an assisted living center are located.
Councilmember Rick Thele recommended several times that the issue go back in front of a city traffic study committee for further study and a recommendation. Thele and Councilmember Jerry Sparrow voted against pulling the parking.
The rest of the present council, Rusty Andrews, Matt Emmett, Angela Roller, and Jack Gray all voted along the lines of a mayoral recommendation to pull the parking.
City Manager Laura Liegois asked Fort Madison Superintendent Mike Wolters to speak on the issue.
“We have sent out some more messaging through our system to both elementary and secondary parents reminding them to not park on River Valley Road. We’ll continue to send out messaging that parking is not allowed there.”
Wolters said the school district is between drones currently but they have plans to make an informational video for parents on how to navigate the pick up lanes more efficiently. He said staff is also out by cars every day assisting students so parents don’t have to get out of their vehicles. Wolters said pulling parking from the south side of River Valley wouldn’t create a hardship on their end.

Thele said he went to observe traffic congestion there on several occasions and never saw more than seven cars parked on either side of River Valley. He said that data showed that maybe there wasn’t the sense of urgency that was being created.
Andrews said the committee has discussed the issues two different times and never brought back a recommendation. Liegois said that was because the committee discussed the issue at the first meeting and then decided to reach out to the school for input after the second, and didn’t have a recommendation at this time.
“I would be willing to make a motion to table this until the traffic committee can bring a report back to us so it's a decision made out of facts instead of forced emotions,” Thele said.
Andrews said he’s been there to pick up his student twice saying he “figured it out”, but said it was a “horrible experience” for parents.
“They're trying to avoid the congestion and the craziness of getting in and out of that. I figured out the elementary school but, you know at the high school, I still haven’t figured out where to turn into there.”
Roller said she didn’t know how much responsibility the school had to police the city streets, only the pick-up lanes at the schools.
“I feel like that's our obligation to rectify. I don't think the onus is on the school district to tell residents or people picking up their kids where they can park on a city street. I think that's our job to decide.”