By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
ASHWAUBENON – To clarify when and where parking is allowed or not allowed in the village near Lambeau Field, Ashwaubenon’s Public Works and Protection Committee agreed Tuesday, Dec. 4, to have village staff revise the related ordinances.
Village Manager Allison Swanson informed the committee that Village President Mary Kardoskee and Trustee Mark Williams asked staff to review the ordinance related to no parking on days of events at Lambeau Field “due to the confusion it causes as to whether something held at Lambeau Field actually constitutes a Lambeau event or not.”
“Staff fully agrees it is confusing,” Swanson said.
Swanson provided committee members a pair of maps related to the current parking restrictions near Lambeau Field and proposed changes that could take effect Jan. 1, if approved by the village board at its Dec. 18 meeting.
Currently, Swanson noted there are areas in the village code that overlap as both no parking at all times and no parking on days of a Lambeau event.
“It makes no sense for those to overlap – let’s clear that up,” she said. “We also discussed other areas in which it might make more sense (to have no parking at all times).
For instance, though the current village code only prohibits parking on days of Lambeau events along Ridge Road between Lombardi Avenue and Valley View Road, Swanson said it makes no sense to ever allow parking there because someone would have to park in a lane of traffic.
Swanson noted the proposed parking restrictions along Ridge Road call for no parking at all times between Lombardi Avenue and Valley View Road, while from south Valley View to Cormier Road, where there currently is no parking on days of Lambeau events, the west side of Ridge Road would change to no parking at all times with the east side continuing to not allow parking on days of a Lambeau event.
“Overall, you can see that we generally are cleaning up the ordinance,” she said. “What we proposed, first off, is that there would be an ordinance brought forward to the village board that would amend our no-parking-at-all-times ordinance.”
Currently, Swanson said there are areas in the village where there is no-parking signage, but not included in the ordinance, or vise-versa with no-parking areas in the ordinance, but no signage.
“We just need a major cleanup of that ordinance,” she said.
Swanson said clarifying the parking situation would involve amending two ordinances, the one involving no parking at all times and the one related to Lambeau event parking areas.
To implement the changes, Swanson said different types of signs have been looked at to handle approximately two miles of traffic lanes that would be affected with approximately 13 Lambeau events per year.
Swanson said the proposal calls for removing all the signs related to no parking on the day of a Lambeau event, though the sign posts would stay in place, and then for days of Packers games police placard signs would be put up indicating the date when parking is not allowed.
“It will actually say the date, so it will be no parking Sundays, so we can put them up on Friday, no problem, so it says that for Sunday, and then people can still park there for other days, and then we’ll just remove them,” she said. “It’s clear, it’s clean, nobody has to decide if it’s a Lambeau event or not.”
Swanson said the fine for parking in areas not allowed during Lambeau events would be $50, because it would be more cost-effective for someone to pay a $25 fine for parking in a no-parking zone than paying for Packers parking.
She said the ordinance amendments to be drafted by Village Attorney Tony Wachewicz for approval by the village board wouldn’t be effective until Jan. 1, so that wouldn’t affect the final Packers home game this season on Dec. 30.
Public Safety Department Chief Eric Dunning informed the committee he agreed with the proposed changes related to parking near Lambeau Field.