Ebensburg Borough Council addresses parking
Rates set to increase to $1 per hour once agreement with ParkMobile complete
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EBENSBURG -- Parking enforcement is now active with the recent hiring of enforcement officer Allison McKee, but a lot of work remains in order to get the borough's ParkMobile agreement in place by Sept. 1, officials said.
When the agreement is in place, parking rates will increase to $1 per hour and fines will increase to $10 if paid within the first 48 hours of violation and then $20, if not paid within the two-day timeframe.
During Monday's Ebensburg Borough Council meeting, the council moved to have solicitor Matt Gribler draft a new agreement addressing the revenue sharing for parking on the county-owned portion of the Prave Lot, which is positioned centrally between the courthouse and Pour on Center, as a 50/50 split.
Currently, the northern half of Prave Lot is owned by the borough and used for public parking. The southern half of the lot is owned by the county and is used by employees. There are 18 center spaces that are also used for county employees during the day but can be used as public parking after hours, officials said.
Under the county's current proposal, the Prave Lot's spaces dedicated as county use during the day would be converted to public parking only, while the lot across from the courthouse's main entrance would be used for county employees only.
That plan represents a net loss of about five public parking spaces in an area that needs a lot of parking, council President Doug Tusing said.
On the south side of the courthouse, there are nine or 10 borough-owned spaces along East Ogle Street that are used by the county for sheriff cars they park there, Tusing said, adding those spaces could potentially become public parking with metered spaces through ParkMobile in the future.
The council also tabled a request by the Cambria County commissioners for a new parking sign to be purchased, with the cost shared between the county and the borough, indicating that the Prave Lot would be used for public parking. Officials claimed there are signs already in place and wanted to investigate the matter further before moving forward with it.
In other business, the council voted to move forward with a development plan to cut ingress and egress into the current paved basketball court at the borough's swimming pool complex to expand parking there.
Borough Manager Terry Carcella said there's a possibility officials will leave one of the two hoops up in some manner, but additional parking is warranted because people were parking along the road to utilize the pool. Officials can't allow that for safety reasons, he said.
"At this point in time, this is a redevelopment area; it's not going to happen overnight," Carcella said. "We're just trying to move forward and put a plan into place."
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.