Speed-limit, parking changes in the offing

BRATTLEBORO — The Selectboard has conducted the first reading of two proposed ordinance changes.

The first change affects parking on Elliot Street, between Elm and Church Streets.

At the board's Sept. 5 meeting, Assistant Town Manager Patrick Moreland went over the new parking plan for the area, which will allow firetrucks to safely enter and exit the Central Fire Station.

If approved, the town will put in three new metered spaces on Church Street.

Four metered spaces in front of T.J. Buckley's Uptown Dining and 118 Elliot will move further east on Elliot Street, to the loading zones in front of Kipling's Restaurant and Pub and MacNeill's Brewery.

To accommodate the bars' delivery needs, the town will issue temporary loading hoods for the parking meters on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 2 p.m., Moreland said. After 2 p.m. and on Saturdays, those spaces will revert to regular metered spaces, he said.

“Those hours, we've confirmed with the businesses, would be adequate for their loading and unloading needs,” Moreland said.

The other ordinance change concerns a speed limit change for Vernon Street, “from Royal Road to the terminus of the town's jurisdiction, on Route 142,” Moreland said.

In March, the Selectboard received a request to change the speed limit there from 25 mph to 35 mph.

The Traffic Safety Committee then reviewed and approved the change, and now it's up to the Selectboard.

At the next Selectboard meeting, O'Connor said the Board will hold a second reading and a hearing and take action on the ordinance changes.

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