The Kalona City Council is in the process of crafting an ordinance to change several parking ordinances in Kalona. After receiving feedback from the council and discussing the city’s parking needs, the first reading of the ordinance will take place during the next city council meeting on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. The second and third reading of the ordinance will take place on Feb. 7.

The council is considering placing “No Parking” signs in the following locations: Harvest Hill Subdivision, on the East side of all streets; 5th Street from C Avenue to D Avenue; 9th Street from E Avenue (Hwy 22) to F Ave, plus 130 feet; and F Avenue from 10th to 6th Street.

The proposed signs on 9th Street will read, “No Parking 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. when school is in session”.

“We would like it to be no parking, no pickup, so if somebody is in their car in that area, it’s the same as if they were parked there,” said City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh. “It’s not parking that we have a problem with, it’s pickup that we have a problem with.”

Schlabaugh said the area gets obviously congested during school pickup times, making it hard for cars and busses to maneuver as needed.

The proposed signs on 5th Street will be “No Parking 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.” to match the rest of the downtown district, Schlabaugh said.

The signs in Harvest Hill will be no parking any time.

Mayor Mark Robe said he drove through the subdivision recently and thinks the changes to the parking ordinance are a good idea.

Councilmember Joe Schmidt lives in Harvest Hill.

“I’m one of the parties that has a car on the street and there’s a couple of others,” Schmidt said. “I did consult with one of my neighbors who has several cars on the street, and I think when they have guests over, it will sometimes have two cars across from each other making that narrow pass. And they were perfectly fine with it. From our standpoint, it makes sense. It does get difficult to navigate when one car is on the street, let alone two.”

Schlabaugh said the city will send a letter to all affected property owners outlining the proposed changes to the parking ordinance. Concerned citizens will be able to attend either the Jan. 17 or Feb. 7 city council meetings to weigh in with questions or comments about the proposed changes.

In other business, the council passed Resolution 2022-A, which designates the city’s official publication as The News, committee membership and appoints certain city officers.

The recreation committee and streets and alleys committee will consist of Joe Schmidt and Craig Spitzer. The finance committee will consist of Jenelle Bender and Greg Schmidt. The water, sewer and solid waste committee will consist of Bender and Henry Beisheim and the buildings and grounds committee will consist of Beisheim and Greg Schmidt. Bender was appointed as Mayor Pro Tem,  and William J. Suppel as the City Attorney. The Health Officer will be appointed at a later time.

“As we go into 2022, one of my goals is to be better with our committees, whether it be council committees or our public committees,” Schlabaugh said. “We’ve had a hiatus though the COVID timeframe but we’d like to pick back up and get some more engagement and involvement from all the groups.”

Schlabaugh said he plans to hold a meeting every other month, before the regular city council meeting, to keep up to date on committee actions and responsibilities.

“It’s a good chance to review positives and negatives, we can say where we’re at and we can do longer meetings as needed, but it will be a little bit of time where we can regroup as a small committee to just make sure we’re heading in the right direction and to bring up any comments, questions or concerns to the group,” he said.