Council Lifts Parking Bans On Two Streets

Longtime parking bans on two Vienna streets — one of them in place for 45 years — were lifted by the Vienna Town Council on Monday night.

The Transportation Safety Commission recommended both bans be removed after residents in both areas made arguments against them, saying the issues that put them in place no longer exist and a shortage of parking spaces near their homes left little if any place for them or their guests to park.

Resident Paul Smith brought a petition before the TSC in June, collecting more than 40 signatures to remove "no parking" signs on both sides of Lincoln Street.

The parking restriction will remain within the first 50 feet from the street's intersection with Malcolm Road NE.

Clyde Robbins of nearby Highland Street said the ban was put in place about
45 years ago through an effort that he took part in working with the Town of Vienna for neighborhood improvement, but like Smith, thought they were no longer needed.

"Trucks can't even stop to pick up," one resident said at Monday's meeting. "I have to send people to Petersen Lane Park to park."

While the council passed the removal of that restriction unanimously, it hesitated with another TSC proposal to remove no parking signs on Ware Street SW.

It voted instead to keep parking restrictions in place between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., to deter parents from the nearby Parkwood School from leaving their cars on the road during pickup and drop-off, which can create a traffic issue, council members said.

The restrictions were put in place about 25 years ago for just that reason. TSC Chairman Drew Meren said if cars are parked on the road, traffic is forced to create a waiting pool that curves across both lanes of the road and prevents other traffic from passing through.

Currently, drivers can park there only between 9 a.m. and noon during Sunday services at the nearby

The Council worried allowing parking would welcome that problem again, along with commuters who may try to park there and walk to the Vienna Metro Station.

"If residents want the signs removed and signs are removed then anybody can park there ... [including commuters and parents]," Councilwoman Laurie Cole said.

Alicia Williams, a resident of the road, told the council there was now only one legal parking spot on the road at the opposite end of Ware Street than where her house stood. With six cars in the family, and a set of elderly parents who visit often, it's difficult to find a place to park, she said.

Some council members wondered if residents on the street could qualify for residential parking permits like those available in other neighborhoods near the metro, including Meadow Lane and the south side of Kingsley Road.

Police Chief Robert A. Carlisle said a residential parking permit would require a resident petition. Police would then have to go out and measure the number of available parking spaces, of which a certain percentage must be occupied by non-resident parking for the department to consider it a commuter crowding problem. To determine that, it would have to observe the area for several weeks.

At that point, the department can begin to issue residential permits "but it has to start with a petition," Carlisle said.

Meren said he didn't think commuters would be a problem.

"No parking" signs will remain in place from 1003 Ware Street SW down to Marshall Road.