During the September 20th Washington City Council meeting, the council was presented with a request from Marion Avenue Baptist Church about a possible variance being granted to help alleviate parking concerns with their bus program. During previous council meetings, citizens and council members raised concerns that the busses blocked the view of those at the stop signs on South Marion Ave.

The Church went in front of the board and presented evidence that while they did try a new process with parking the busses to stay within the law, it was far too dangerous to proceed with. The Board unanimously approved the variance to allow the church to park their buses as they have done in previous years.

Washington Mayor Jaron Rosien spoke with KCII about why the variance was allowed for the church. “The Police Chief obviously can’t give permission to people to break the law, but the council can allow a variance. What happened at the meeting officially codified 49 years of Bus Ministry parking. There were concerns about the busses pulling too far forward and causing a blind spot which led to examining the parking practice altogether. To the church’s credit, they tried something new but was too unsafe to continue, so the Council approved the variance.”

The next Washington City Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, October 4th at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall.