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The LaGrange City Council has voted to eliminate parking on a portion of Smith Street.

The city was recently approached by a business on Smith Street about potentially dangerous parking on the north side of Smith Street between North Greenwood Street and North Lewis Street.

One of the businesses in the area was concerned about people coming down the hill and their customers trying to pull out, and the danger that it created for them.

Due to the potential public safety issues related to traffic, the city engaged Barge Engineering to review the issue and they found three issues that were valid concerns.

The first was sight distance, said City Planner Mark Kostial.

“People really fly down this hill. You’ve got people trying to eke out. The driveways can’t see very well, so they’re inching out and there’s potential for accident.

Secondly, the parking makes the lane widths too small. The travel widths are only nine feet once you have parallel parking on both sides of the road, Kostial said.

Lastly, the spots are so tight and close to the sidewalk that pedestrians have to dodge the mirrors on vehicles that are out over the sidewalk, he added.

Because of those issues, Barge recommended eliminating the parking on the north side of Smith Street between Greenwood and Lewis.

Eliminating parking on the north side will allow for the center line to be shifted over, which would then allow for 12-foot lanes, which are the standard-size travel lanes. It will also eliminate the site distance issues of people coming out of those driveways so they can see down the road as cars are coming down the street.

The city plans to send a letter to notify all the people on this street. Fortunately, the businesses do have parking behind their offices, Kostial said.

The change was unanimously approved by the council.