Tanya Bolton’s home security video camera kept buzzing her at work Monday, alerting her that there was a lot of activity in her yard.
When she got home, she saw exactly why: three “no parking” signs had been erected by the city on her corner lot at 1735 Palmer Drive in Graham.
The signs were among some of approximately 31 signs put up by the city along less than a half-mile stretch on both sides of Palmer Drive in the West Hill Reserve subdivision off Rogers Road in southern Graham.
Bolton was the leader among a half-dozen residents who came to Graham’s city council meeting Tuesday night to voice their concerns and displeasure about the sudden and unannounced addition of the string of “no parking” signs put up along Palmer Drive the previous day.
It was an “abrupt change,” they emphasized. There had been no complaints about which they were aware and no notice from the city about any problem.
The hour-long conversation took a number of twists and turns, with neighbors alternately looking for solutions to the sudden crackdown on parking on their street – where most contended there had not been a problem in the first place – and blaming the developer, Windsor Homes, for having failed to be forthcoming about the parking limitations, and council members looking for a long-term fix to avoid such problems at other subdivisions in the future.
Natallia Russell, of 1670 Palmer Drive, said that the current interpretation of no parking along Palmer meant she would never be able to entertain.
Bolton, both at the council meeting and in an interview later with The Alamance News, emphasized she and her husband had lived in their house since 2021 and this was the first time that on-street parking had arisen as a problem.
Bolton, Russell, and other neighbors took aim at Windsor Homes, which they claimed had failed to disclose that one of the conditions for the subdivision’s approval in the first place had been that there could be no parking on either side of the street because the proposed roadway was only 25 feet wide.
Even neighbors on the wider portion of Palmer, at its intersection with Wildwood Lane – Brandon Oliver and Will Meyer – noted that “no parking” signs had been posted in their side yards which face Palmer.
Pre-existing portions of Palmer at both ends, near Ridgecrest Street and Rogers Road and at Wildwood Lane, are wider. In the newest section, the street width tapers down to 25 feet before widening again at the other end of the street.
Mayor Jennifer Talley, who before her election as mayor in 2021 had been a council member, recalled that she voted against this and other subdivisions that she considered “too dense” and whose roads were too narrow.
The general outline from Talley, other council members, and Aaron Noble, the city’s assistant city manager, was that the general rule of thumb is that 25-foot wide roads in Graham could have no parking on either side of the street; 27-foot wide roads could have parking on only one side; and 31-foot roads could have parking on both sides.
“I’m a 31-foot girl,” Talley said, emphasizing her preference for what she considered a larger, more standard size road.
She pointed out that she and other members of the current council have generally opposed new subdivisions that they deem “too dense” and that have narrower (25- and 27-foot) roads. She was repeatedly critical of previous councils that had allowed developments, such as the one the complaining residents live in, to have narrow roads
Talley has also brought before the council concerns about another subdivision, a townhouse one near Graham Regional Park, where the narrow roads and shallow front setbacks have resulted in multiple cars in driveways hanging over sidewalks and impeding pedestrian foot traffic.
Council members emphasized that parking on one or both sides of narrower streets could impede both regular garbage trucks, as well as emergency vehicles, particularly fire trucks.
The conversation was sometimes circular, with council members saying that roads throughout need to be wide enough to accommodate city trucks (garbage and fire) and the neighbors looking for some relief from the sudden crackdown on Palmer Street.
Bolton noted that all of the “no parking” signs had been placed on Palmer, but not the adjoining cul-de-sacs (Loon Court or Alamanni Court).
Residents repeatedly asked why they had been “singled out” for enforcement and why similar “no parking” signs had not been installed on other 25-foot-wide streets throughout the city.
When an Alamance News reporter visited Bolton at her home on Wednesday, there were no cars parked along either side of the street.
Asked whether that was because of the signs, Bolton insisted that there were not usually any cars parked on the streets – except in some cases when a family with multiple cars had someone visiting either from out of town or otherwise.
Bolton, who had been the president of the homeowners’ association, stressed that there had been “no excessive parking on Palmer.”
Bolton said that the HOA rules prohibit parking on the street for more than 12 hours. She added that the rules also prohibit parking on the grass.
After several rounds of back-and-forth about the history of narrow roads and the impact on the Palmer Drive residents, the council asked the neighbors to see if they could come up with a workable recommendation on how to proceed to address their concerns, as well as the city’s interest in maintaining clear access.
