Parking improvements considered for Mt. Lebanon
Mt. Lebanon’s Beverly Road commercial district could be subject to changes in attempts to improve the parking situation in the vicinity.
A topic of the Mt. Lebanon Commission’s Feb. 12 discussion session addressed a parking study of the area completed in 2017 by Environmental Planning and Design. The study includes recommendations that have been evaluated by Gateway Engineers, which performs traffic-engineering services for the municipality.
One recommendation calls for Overlook Drive to be designated for one-way traffic from Akron Avenue to Volta Way, the alley that runs adjacent to the municipal Overlook parking lot.
The intent, according to the study, is to direct traffic from Beverly Road to the municipal lot “while minimizing commercial-related traffic” on Akron Avenue. That would steer motorists to parking in the municipal lot rather than on residential side streets. Eight additional parallel-parking spaces could be created as a result of the change, according to Ian McMeans, the municipality’s assistant manager and planner.
He and Eric Milliron, economic development officer and commercial districts manager, visited a recent meeting of the Mt. Lebanon Parking Facility Advisory Board to discuss the concept.
“They felt that any way we can add parking to the area is generally a good thing,” McMeans told commissioners, noting that board members “did express some concerns about the recommendations regarding striping and additional signage, mostly due to the aesthetics of the neighborhood.”
He said the topic also was addressed at a municipal traffic board meeting, with members focusing on the impact of parking for residents of the densely populated area in and around Beverly Road.
Commissioner John Bendel represents Ward 1, where the applicable section of Mt. Lebanon is located.
“The study generally showed there was adequate parking most of the time,” he said. “Some of the main issues are that, while we have time-limited parking on the surrounding neighborhood streets, there are cars that are parked there for well beyond the period of time.”
Bendel proposed setting up a meeting with local residents, business owners and property owners to discuss the situation further, and then bringing the information gathered to the commission. He said he also would like to see consistent enforcement of parking time limits on residential streets.
Police Chief Aaron Lauth said his department recently implemented a system that allows for “digital chalking” to determine whether a vehicle has moved within a certain period.
“This is driving by and making a note in the system on the computer without having to get out of the car,” he explained. “You can issue the ticket immediately from that, rather than physically getting out of the car with literally a piece of chalk, chalking the tire and then having to come back and check it again.”
In another traffic-related matter, commissioners at their regular meeting on Feb. 12 voted to restrict left turns out of the South Public Parking Lot onto Washington Road.
Police determined that 14 crashes have occurred during the past five years involving vehicles exiting the lot. Lauth said that one accident involved a crossing guard at the adjacent crosswalk.
He told commissioners that his recommendation to prohibit left turns was based both on accident history and direct observation.
“It was a matter of us standing up there one day, and we almost witnessed a crash happen, where we started to think about what kind of history we did have there,” he said. “We started to put all the factors together, and from our perspective, we thought that it was something that needed to be addressed.”