Lansford Borough Council plans to make a parking ban on a borough street permanent.

Borough council voted Wednesday night to advertise an ordinance that would ban parking on the unit block of East Water Street.

The ordinance will be up for final adoption at next month’s council meeting.

Council members said the parking ban is necessary to allow for firetrucks, garbage trucks and school vans to use the street.

“There seem to be a lot more cars up there than there were at one time, and it’s caused issues for the fire company, the garbage and the school,” said council President Bruce Markovich.

“Public safety has to take priority over everything at this point.”

The unit block of East Water Street has more than a dozen homes. It has one-way traffic, and until recently, parking on one side of the street.

In December, council voted to post no parking signs on an emergency basis.

Residents opposed to council’s decision spoke out during a council meeting in January. They said there are four other streets in the borough which are the same width or 1 foot wider where parking is allowed.

One of those streets has a parking ban during the winter months. But council wants to make the parking ban on the unit block of East Water Street year-round. A vote during their next meeting in March would do that.

Council’s public safety committee recommended the decision. John Turcmanovich, the chairman of the committee, said it would not be possible for firefighters to respond to an emergency on the street if cars are parked there.

Turcmanovich said that last month, he arranged for a firetruck from American Fire Co. No. 1 to drive down the street, while temporarily restoring parking. He said the demonstration showed there was not enough room for firefighters to get out of the truck or use their equipment.

Markovich said that council got support for their decision from the fire company and Panther Valley School District.

Turcmanovich said that there are parking spaces available on other blocks nearby. Markovich said parking is usually available on the 100 block of East Water Street, behind the former St. Michael’s Church.

There are no other blocks in the borough where off-street parking is completely prohibited. Along Kline Avenue, another alley, on-street parking is banned from Nov. 1-April 1, but the borough does allow those residents to use a parking lot several blocks away.

Mayor Michele Bartek said there have been a number of incidents where vehicles parked along East Water were struck by cars or garbage trucks.

Bartek asked if council would consider making an exception to allow a disabled resident to have handicap parking near her home. Council members said they would discuss it at a committee meeting.