By Sarah Light, staff writer

Home and business owners gave mixed reviews last week to the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners&8217; recent vote for a new no-parking ordinance along Bridge Avenue starting at Marshall Street and extending to Interstate 90.

Freeborn County Engineer Sue Miller said the decision for the ordinance came about as one of the recommendations from the Bridge Avenue Corridor Study report that came out at the end of 2005.

It is one of the short-term, immediate actions that could help improve the functionality, mobility and safety of the street &8212; which for most of its length is also County Road 22 &8212; Miller said.

The ordinance was passed unanimously at last week&8217;s County Board meeting, after it was resurrected from a Sept. 5, 2006, motion.

County Commissioner Dan Belshan said he thought it was important to bring the motion up to the board again because it could be a low-cost option to help fix some of the safety and traffic concerns on Bridge Avenue.

&8220;By doing some of this no parking and limited-access parking, we may be able to solve the problem on Bridge without paying millions tearing down houses,&8221; Belshan said. &8220;I&8217;m in favor of the low cost.&8221;

As of last Friday, Miller said the only concerns she&8217;s heard about the new ordinance are coming from the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce, which is on the corner of Marshall Street and Bridge Avenue. But, she noted, there are probably still many people who don&8217;t know about it.

Randy Kehr, interim executive director at the chamber, said there are a number of people who go in and out of the chamber building during the week that would be affected by the change. Under the new parking ordinance, any people who park in the few parking stalls on Bridge Avenue that are adjacent to the chamber and The Hair Place would have to park in the back of the building or in another parking lot.

During the winter months especially, he said, there would also be a concern for some of the organization&8217;s older volunteers who will now have to walk a longer distance to get to the building.

&8220;I understand their concern about Bridge Avenue &8212; it has so much traffic,&8221; Kehr said. &8220;But I would have hoped we could have had some consideration for the two businesses right here on Bridge Avenue.&8221;

Just coming in as the new interim executive director at the chamber, he said he wished he had known about the possibility of this happening before so that he could have voiced his concerns earlier.

He said he wished the board would consider starting a block north of Marshall Street so that the chamber and The Hair Place would not be affected by the change.

George Gillespie, owner of The Web Room &8212; which is next to the Chamber of Commerce on Marshall Street &8212; said he would be in favor of the no parking on Bridge Avenue only if the county was planning to utilize the freed up space to make turning lanes on the road instead. But if this isn&8217;t in the plans, then why do it, he asked.

Gillespie just made a sign to put up outside his business to notify customers they will now have to park in the back.

Albert Lean Diane Neitzel, who lives in the 600 block of Bridge Avenue, said she was in favor of the ordinance. When talk started taking place about possibilities for change after the Bridge Avenue Corridor Study, she said, she thought why not take away the parking; it would make the street a lot safer.

If you park on the street, it&8217;s hard to get out of your vehicle safely because the traffic is pretty fast and there&8217;s a lot of it,&8221; Neitzel said. &8220;I myself don&8217;t park out on the street because of that fact.&8221;

She said she shares a driveway with a neighbor, and they work it out between themselves when they need to get out of the driveway. Otherwise, there are a lot of offside streets &8212; probably averaging out to be one for every five houses &8212; where side street parking is available, she said.

&8220;I kind of like the idea of it because it is a hazard to be parking on such a busy street and trying to get out of your vehicle &8212; it&8217;s just a safety factor,&8221; Neitzel said.

Jim Hanson, who lives on the 800 block of Bridge Avenue, said he thinks the new ordinance will affect a lot of his neighbors worse than it will himself, especially if they don&8217;t have an alley behind their house.

Also, if friends decide to stop by the house, he will have to tell them to go to the back, Hanson said.

In his opinion, he said, he didn&8217;t think the new no-parking ordinance would make a difference to the street.

&8220;It&8217;s never been that big of a problem,&8221; Hanson said. &8220;I never have seen any accidents because of it.&8221;

Miller said the county is getting quotes for the new no-parking signs. A contractor will be picked out this week, and then as soon as that contractor can get the signs made and submitted, they will be posted.

&8220;The bigger picture issue is how do we make that corridor as safe as possible over time,&8221; Miller said.