Changes to alternate parking in Jamestown may be coming next year.

There will be no change to the way alternate parking works when alternate parking begins on Tuesday.

Starting at 10 a.m. each day, drivers are asked to park their vehicles on the side of the street corresponding to the date. On odd-numbered days, park on the odd-numbered side, and on even-numbered days, park on the even-numbered side. Alternate parking applies to all residential areas within the city limits. Daily alternate parking extends from October through March. Monthly alternate parking rules are in effect from April through the end of September.

Councilman Bill Reynolds, R-Ward 5 and city Housing Committee chairman, said he has heard a lot of talk about alternate parking and decided to bring the matter up at this week’s City Council work session.

“I guess there’s been some discussion amongst some council people and a lot of neighbors and citizens are anxious to see if there is a way we could change alternate parking from October 1 to November 1. I’ve heard it might be awfully expensive to change the number of signs to read that along with having a local law amended to allow that change to happen. I came up with an idea. Rather than buy all new signs we could buy fancy stickers, or maybe not magnet ones, but something simple to say Nov. 1 is the date. I think a lot of folks would be very happy to see that happen if we could.”

There was general agreement amongst council members and Mayor Kim Ecklund there should be no changes to the start of alternate parking until next year. Changing the city’s parking ordinance can’t logistically be done by the end of September. The council’s voting session for September will be held Monday, and there are legal notice requirements that can’t be met in time to change the system for this year.

“I would just wait until after it starts to do whatever it is you want to do that way it’s already started, we’re already doing alternate parking, not to confuse anybody,” Ecklund said.

While there was consensus among the city’s elected officials not to try to change alternate parking for this winter, there was also consensus to push the date back in the fall of 2025.

Councilman Russ Bonfiglio, R-At Large, said it’s a “no-brainer” to push alternate parking back to November 1 each year, but said starting the process in 2024 will allow the city to get the word out to people in advance of changes next year. Councilman Jeff Russell, R-At Large, agreed with that idea.

“We could have a resolution and pass it saying it goes into effect next year, correct?” Russell asked. “If people are on board with it I just dont want to see the can kicked down the road. Why wait until spring time to talk about it?”

All council members are considering changing now is when alternate parking rules take effect, not the time each day when cars have to be moved. The time of day is typically one of the common complaints from city residents, particularly those who work overnight hours. Alternate parking has been an on-again, off-again issue in the city dating back to the 1950s. The time to move cars used to be 7 p.m., but was changed to 10 a.m. starting Aug. 1, 1960, to make snow removal easier for city plow drivers. Complaints from city residents prompted the council to change the time to between 6 and 7 p.m. starting Aug. 1, 1975. That gave people an hour to move their vehicles and was seen as a way to help the city’s bus system, plow drivers and factory workers.

But, by Feb. 3, 1976, a citywide questionnaire saw city residents favoring a return to the 10 a.m. change time. The council changed the system back to 10 a.m. after the citywide survey – and it’s stayed there ever since.

“As I said before, I’ve been here a long, long time,” said councilman Tony Dolce, R-Ward 2, in February 2004 during a Public Safety Committee meeting. “We looked at this years ago, back in 1994 or 1995 or somewhere in there. The argument always was there is no perfect time. It never becomes an issue until you have a lot of snow because then it becomes an issue of plowing the street.”