Linda Payne

Cars can no longer be parked along streets that have a posted speed limit of 35 mph or greater in the Town of Granite Falls.

Council members voted unanimously Monday to approved the change in the town's Code of Ordinances. The change, recommended by Granite Falls Police Chief Ritch Bolick, is designed to make it easier for motorists to pull out into traffic. Bolick said he had received several phone calls about how school bus drivers were being forced to nearly cross the double yellow line in order to see if there was oncoming traffic.

"Our goal is to make our streets safe and keep travelers out of harm's way," Bolick said. "We think this change will remedy a lot of the problems."

Bolick said there is a clause in the ordinance that allows residents to appeal to the council for curbside parking if they have no other place to park. He said these decisions will be made on an individual basis based on the level of safety hazard and apply to streets with a posted speed limit of 25 mph to 45 mph.

"I want to commend Ritch for his hard work during this process," said Granite Falls Town Attorney Bruce Cannon. "He has a made a great effort to research this, and he did a very good job testing the problem."

Meanwhile, council members scheduled two public hearings for the Monday, Oct. 5 meeting.

Council members will entertain public comments concerning the decision to reduce the speed limit on Archer Street to 25 mph. The residents of the street have filed a petition to reduce the speed from the current 35 mph, and Bolick said that each of the residents his office was able to contact agreed to the change. Bolick noted that this street contains many houses that don't have driveways, and there are many cars parked along the street.

The public also can address council members about annexing the Edward Wayne Whisenant property into the town. Caldwell EDC Properties, LLC has requested the town annex the 66.6 acres of land off New Farm Road.

In other news:

* The council honored Judy Mackie and Billy Brown with a plaque and chair to recognize their years of service to the town. Mackie worked for 29.5 years and Brown worked for 25.5 years.

* Council members established a 10-person steering committee in accordance with requirements for the Pedestrian Planning Grant. Included on the committee are several town residents, as well as school principals, town employees and a council representative.

* The council amended its contract with the North Carolina Rural Center concerning the overhead water storage tank. Construction on the tank is scheduled to begin by early spring and should be completed by the end of December 2010.

* Council members authorizes the distribution of ABC funds to Granite Falls Elementary School, Granite Falls Middle School and Dudley Shoals Elementary School. The grand total is $1,055.57.