Ban Limits Northside Parking

Parking is permitted on both sides of the 20-foot-wide, 250-foot-long Mason Street, which is a dead end.

But a new on-street parking ban for the west side of the street from McMasters Street to the dead end will go into effect Dec. 9. A parking ban for the west side of the 22-foot-wide, 475-foot-long Carver Street also will be effective Dec. 9.

The bans were prompted by a May 31 petition from Northside residents Estelle Mabry and R.D. Smith, who were concerned mainly over residential safety.

Neither Mabry nor Smith live on either street, but both live nearby.

Mabry and Smith fear that parking along both sides of the narrow streets causes too much congestion, making it difficult for emergency vehicles to move through the area.

"Mason Street is a very narrow street," Smith said. "If anybody parks there, emergency vehicles will have a very hard time getting in there."

Bill Stockard, assistant to the town manager, said the manager and other officials found by conducting on-site studies that limiting parking on the west sides of the streets would alleviate congestion problems while still allowing for residential parking on the east sides of the streets.

"There was a survey of the neighborhood, and the residents supported no parking anytime on the west side of (Mason) Street," Stockard said.

But residents and council members say they know parking on both sides of Mason Street causes congestion for more than just emergency vehicles.

"It's a narrow street," said council member Pat Evans. "It's a dead-end street. If people park on both sides it could block traffic."

Smith said residents have encouraged instituting a ban since long before May 31.

"We've been championing no parking on the street for a long time," he said.

And though recent Northside issues have been a result of resident-student conflict, council member Dorothy Verkerk said the ban is not at all aimed at students.

"It's probably aimed at people who use the road as a commuter parking lot," she said.

Mabry said the parking concerns only will relate to students because there are students living on Mason Street.

"It will affect the people that live on that street," Mabry said. "There will be no exceptions."

Evans said this most recent ban isn't unusual -- it's just one of many such parking bans implemented across Chapel Hill.

She said, "We have done this all over town."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.