Watertown City Council discusses removing curbside parking spaces downtown (Audio)
March 6, 2023
MIke Tanner
WATERTOWN, S.D.–Those reserved curbside parking spaces some Watertown businesses have received were up for discussion at Monday night’s city council meeting.
The council held the first reading of an ordinance that would strike those from existence. In other words, they’d no longer be legal, and no new permits for them would be issued going forward.
Some of the businesses that have received permits for reserved curbside spaces in the past include Gather Coffee, Needleworks Sewing Center and Pitmaster Supply, Maverick’s, Computer Dan’s on Broadway and Empire Pizza.
Mark Buller owns Needleworks and Pitmaster Supply on the east end of Kemp Avenue. He says because of the uniqueness of his business and what he sells, the reserved spaces have been good for him, so his customers don’t have to carry heavy purchases a long distance….
Mayor Ried Holien then weighed in saying there are more complaints about the reserved parking spaces than there are compliments……
That led to this exchange between Buller and the mayor…
Councilman Randy Tupper had the last word….
Because it was a first reading, no council action was taken.