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Des Moines council pulls Aurora Avenue parking change after resident objections, sends item back to staff
Summary
After multiple residents voiced concerns about removing on-street parking on a curved section of Aurora Avenue, the Des Moines City Council struck the proposed change from a larger traffic-regulation package and directed staff to reexamine the plan and notify neighbors.
The Des Moines City Council on May 5 removed a proposed no-parking change for the Aurora Avenue curve between 30th/9th Place and Shawnee from a large package of traffic regulation updates after several residents said the change would worsen parking and safety for nearby households.
Council members retained the rest of the traffic regulation ordinance but struck item D — the Aurora Avenue restriction — and asked staff to study alternatives and improve outreach to nearby residents. Mayor Connie Boesen told residents, “If you'll give me your number as you walk out, I'll make sure you get included.”
The action followed sustained public comment from neighbors who live along Aurora Avenue. "We were surprised by the notice and we're not very happy about it," said Matt McKibben, who gave his address as 3901 Aurora and spoke for neighbors. McKibben said many households rely on curb parking for multiple vehicles and that removing parking would simply displace vehicles to other nearby blocks.
Other residents described safety tradeoffs. "If that was made a non parking area... that would open it up so people would be able to go faster through there," said Mike Holfing of 3815 Aurora, warning increased speed could result from cleared curb space. Roger Davidson said heavy drive-cycle traffic around school drop-off times contributes to congestion along the stretch.
Jeremy Gerdes, who identified himself as president of the Lower Beaver neighborhood, urged the council to study visibility issues in addition to parking: "There is a house on the south side of the street that has a large bush that obstructs your visibility across that curve. I think we need to do a little more studying to figure out what's going on here and see if we can't improve visibility all the way around."
Councilman Coleman advocated for delaying the final reading on the ordinance and flagged the need for more study and alternatives. Coleman told colleagues he was sensitive to the parking needs of residents and suggested not passing the final reading to allow staff to take a deeper look. Council members agreed to strike item D from the package, waive final readings for the remaining items, and return D to staff for further study and neighborhood outreach. The full traffic-regulation package minus Aurora Avenue passed on a 7-0 vote.
Council members said they would try to arrange follow-up meetings with neighborhood representatives. Mayor Boesen offered to share contact information with staff: "If you'll give me your number as you walk out, I'll make sure you get included." The council also asked staff to examine other measures, such as vegetation trimming and sight-line improvements, that residents and staff suggested during the discussion.
The council did not adopt a specific alternate plan at the meeting; staff will return with revised recommendations and additional analysis before any final action on Aurora Avenue.
