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Finding parking getting tougher in Broad Ripple Village

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Change is inevitable but how people feel about it is a two-way street.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Tara Franke said as we informed her of parking changes coming to the Broad Ripple Village.

“My thoughts are that it doesn’t seem very forward thinking,” Chris Shaffer said in disagreement. “Everything on my left side here will be unavailable for residential parking,” he said as he gestured on the parking spots in front of his home.

He lives in the 5900 block of Carrollton Avenue one of nearly a dozen blocks south of Broad Ripple Avenue that will go from having parking on both sides of the street to just one.

“A lot of these houses here were actually built with street parking in mind. So a lot of people just don’t have any other options aside from street parking,” he said.

Frustrating people is an effect but that wasn’t the Broad Ripple Village Association’s goal when it set out to fix the parking problems south of the strip.

“Ensuring our neighbors are safe is reason for the change,” said Kent Springer, BRVA president.

He said the neighborhood streets can get packed, especially on weekends. Some parked cars have even gotten side swiped.

“We definitely want people visiting Broad Ripple Village but we want them to respect the neighborhood and keep our neighbors safe,” he said. “Most of the streets, Carrollton, Guildford, Winthrop, they’re currently just parking on one side of the street from Broad Ripple Avenue now to about 60th Street, and we’re just extending that all the way down to Kessler Boulevard because that’s the congested area right now.”

The ideas stem from years of surveys and public forums to see which of four plans neighbors preferred.

The city will also turn three intersections in the area into four-way stops hoping to cut down on speeding.

They’ll also add more signs indicating that people can’t park within 30 feet of an intersection.

“The corners are not marked with yellow paint so most people think you can park right up to the corner of an intersection,” said Springer.

“People park right up to the intersection and you can’t see past the cars then,” Franke added.

Because many of the changes cut down on available parking spots, the city plans to improve the alleys behind the homes. The hope is that homeowners will be more likely to use them as a way to park in their garages which are in the alley. Many people we talked with never expected that change to happen.

“I think it’s great because my husband and I just moved to the neighborhood and that was one of our concerns was the upkeep of the alleyways. Our section is not very good, so we were going to take steps on our own to make them better. But if the city’s going to work on that, then that’s an even better idea,” said Franke.

“People park right up to the intersection and you can’t see past the cars then,” Franke added.

The plan is in a trial period. Springer said it’ll be evaluated over the next six months to see what works and what doesn’t. He said they plan to get feedback from homeowners and visitors.

Springer added that there will be a grace period for homeowners and visitors to make sure they realize the changes happen. For the first few weeks, IMPD will only issue people a warning instead of a ticket.

But as the summer goes on those warnings could become a ticket or even result in being towed.

Since there are fewer spots, Springer is also encouraging people to use the Broad Ripple parking garage at the corner of College Avenue and Westfield Boulevard.

To read more about the plan, click here!

To see a map of the proposed parking changes, click here!