SEBASTIAN — The south side of Cleveland Street will have no on-street parking after all, the Sebastian City Council decided at a recent meeting. Armed with public feedback given during a workshop earlier in the month, city engineers decided to remove the 18 or so parking spots that would have had headlights pointed into homes’ windows.
With the loss of more than a dozen parking spots on the south side, engineers converted the planned parallel parking on the north side of Cleveland to angled parking, carving out about 15 parking spots.
“I want to thank you all,” said Cleveland Street resident Maria Jovanovich, who led the opposition of the angled parking on the south side of the street. She said the new plans are “much, much better.”
Councilman Don Wright questioned removing all parking on the south side of the street, asking if it might be wise to put a few parallel parking spots in front of the residential units on the east end of the street.
Engineer Frank Watanabe, of Neel Schaffer Associates, told Wright that doing so would mean to mix angle with parallel parking.
“You try to avoid doing that,” he said.
The parking on Cleveland is part of a $450,000 roadway improvement project encompassing Cleveland, Martin and Washington streets in the downtown area. Along with repaving the roads and adding parking, the project includes improving drainage and creating a more pedestrian friendly environment.
The improvement plan for Martin Street differs from that of Cleveland and Washington. Martin will only be rebuilt and repaved.
Cleveland and Washington will also be rebuilt and repaved, but on-street parking is also expected to be added to the roads, along with beautification elements such as benches and pedestrian lighting.
With the council’s approval of the current plans, the city can send the project out to bid. A construction contract could be awarded in March and see construction begin by summer. Once started, construction is expected to take 120 days at the most.
“I think we’ve gone a long way to make some folks happy,” Councilwoman Andrea Coy said.