READING, Pa. – Reading City Council discussed a proposed ordinance Monday night that would place a six-month moratorium on the issuance of parking violations for no-parking restrictions at the two intersections where North Fifth Street crosses with Oley Street and Douglass Street.

In December, council approved a similar ordinance to place a six-month moratorium on parking fines associated with the no-parking zones on Hampden Boulevard at its intersections with College Avenue and Richmond, Amity and Perry streets.

In both districts, the issue came about from complaints from residents who feel the parking restrictions are too restrictive.

During the Committee of the Whole meeting, Councilmember Chris Miller, the representative for District 6, said the residents in Centre Park want the same consideration as was given to the residents in the Hampden Heights area.

Miller said the issue first arose when residents of Centre Park came together to petition the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for an additional traffic signal on Fifth Street because of excessive speeding there.

“PennDOT said that based on the volume of vehicles it (a traffic signal) wasn’t warranted, but their compromise was the extending of the yellow lines to increase the sight for cars pulling out,” Miller said. “But it’s not a question of the cars pulling out; it’s a question of the cars being able to judge which vehicles are going at the speed limit versus which vehicles are considerably going over the speed limit.”

Miller said he would estimate that the no-parking zones at the intersection have resulted in the removal of 12 to 16 parking spaces at each of the intersections.

Just like the intersections in Hampden Heights, council is hopeful the issue can be examined, and a solution will be reached by the city and PennDOT.

Managing Director Jack Gombach said the city’s new traffic engineer will be making a presentation to council in February with his insights into traffic-calming at some of the intersections where council has raised issues of speeding.

Council will vote on the proposed ordinance next Monday night.