Parking in Downtown Marshalltown just got a bit easier. On Monday, the City Street Department changed the horizontal parking in the 10 block on the west side of North 1st Street from horizontal to diagonal. 6 horizontal or parallel parking spots were converted into 10 diagonal parking spots. The move comes ahead of construction on the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the closure of that parking lot for a significant amount of time. "A business owner in the area contacted me and was concerned what this would mean for those trying to access her business. So we looked at what we could do to create more parking," said Jessica Kinser, City Administrator. She also stated that the goal would be to move the diagonal parking to the east side of the street once the Coliseum was renovated and restripe the 6 spots on the west side of the street in order to gain more on-street parking. The Downtown Master Plan, which was completed in June 2019 and has a recommendation to undertake a study of diagonal or angled parking on Main Street. While this study is still in the works and has not proposed, the City is looking at smaller opportunities in which the number of parking spots can be increased.
For more information on the Downtown Master Plan, please visit www.downtownmarshalltown.com.