Moon Supervisors May Restrict Parking Near High School

Responding to a last month from Moon Police Chief Leo McCarthy, Moon Township supervisors on Wednesday discussed enacting parking restrictions on Patton, Springer and Bradley drives near

The board is considering a draft of an ordinance that would restrict parking to one side of the streets during daytime hours from September to May.

McCarthy told the board in March that parking overflow from the new high school is causing traffic congestion on the residential streets. Police have placed temporary no-parking signs to restrict parking to one side of the street, but McCarthy has asked the board to consider adopting more permanent restrictions.

Because the ordinance is aimed at student parking, the township will send a draft of the ordinance to the Moon Area School Board for review, board of supervisors Chairman Jim Vitale said.

A resident who spoke at Wednesday's meeting asked that the board to also consider placing parking restrictions on Greenlea Drive to alleviate parking congestion there. Supervisor Marv Eicher suggested that residents on that street submit a petition to the board expressing their concerns about parking.

"My concern is that after we pass something that someone on the next street over will be here complaining about parking on that street," Eicher said. 

Township Manager Jeanne Creese said she would ask Chief McCarthy to assess traffic on Greenlea Drive.

Parking problems in the vicinity of the high school arose after it opened in January,  the chief told supervisors in March.

Parking space at the school is limited, and more won't be available there until the middle school is demolished in the fall of 2012. The crunch has prompted student drivers to park on nearby streets, and neighbors have begun to complain about traffic and cars blocking access to their mailboxes.

Police have issued numerous citations to students drivers, the chief said, and they also have installed temporary signs to prohibit parking on one side of those streets to ensure emergency vehicles would be able to get through the neighborhood during school hours.