Students at McIntosh High School used to parking for free on Petrol Point will have until Sept. 15 to find a new place to park.

In the face of complaints from area business owners, the City Council has decided to ban all on-street parking on Petrol Point, a street that runs off Ga. Highway 54 between Huddle House and Dairy Queen. But instead of making the action immediate, council decided to give the students a brief grace period instead.

The action leaves Prime Point parking unaffected. That street, running behind the school, currently is restricted to parking on one side only.

City Engineer David Borkowski noted that vehicles parking on the street obscure the view for motorists leaving businesses on Petrol Point, creating a safety hazard. City Attorney Ted Meeker noted that if the city didn’t handle the issue and a resulting accident occurred, the city could be held liable for not correcting the problem.

One day last week, the majority of the vehicles parked on Petrol Point during school hours were golf carts.

Police Chief James Murray noted that the school resource officer at McIntosh found that there are about 40 unused spaces in the school’s special golf cart parking lot each day. The school requires students to pay for golf cart parking permits, and it could be that some students don’t want to pay, he noted.

Murray also noted that the city helped pay for the installation of the golf cart parking lot. That happened after the city council lowered the age a person could drive a golf cart alone to 15 years old; previously it was set at 16.

Council member Cyndi Plunkett was concerned that city staff hadn’t called school officials to warn them of the possibility that Petrol Point would be off-limits to student parking. But Councilwoman Judi-ann Rutherford noted it’s not the city’s responsibility to provide parking for McIntosh students.

Council also asked staff to look at on-street parking problems in the entire area around McIntosh so a comprehensive solution could be devised.

“This is a major safety issue,” said Councilman Stuart Kourajian.

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