Provo resident asks city to ban street parking outside Jehovah’s Witnesses hall; staff to review

A Provo resident asked the Provo Municipal Council on Oct. 7 to review on-street parking on 500 North between 1375 West and 1280 West and consider designating the stretch a no-parking zone to improve safety when exiting the Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses parking lot.

“I’m here this evening representing the Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses located at 491 North 1280 West and we actually just have a small safety concern regarding street parking outside of our building,” said Aaron Gallegos, a Provo resident. “We recently had some construction on-site and we had several near miss accidents as we were exiting the property due to the cars parked on the street right there.”

Gallegos told the council he brought a map of the area showing the segment where parking currently is allowed and asked staff to review whether a no-parking designation would make the driveway exit safer. A council member asked him to leave the map with staff; city staff acknowledged receipt and said they would review it.

No formal action or vote took place during the meeting; the request was received as public comment and referred to city staff for review. City staff said only that they would “take a look” at the map and the location. Gallegos did not request a specific enforcement mechanism or a timeline during the comment period.

If staff pursue a change to on-street parking, the city typically follows an engineering review and notification process (not specified at the meeting) before any parking restriction is posted or enforced.

The council heard Gallegos’ comment during the meeting’s public comment period; the council did not take an immediate policy vote on the request.