The new year will bring with it a significant parking change in Jim Thorpe Borough.

On Jan. 2, a permit-parking ordinance aimed at opening more spots for local residents on West Broadway and High Street will go into effect.

The ordinance allows residents of Broadway, West Broadway, High Street, Race Street, Hill Road and Quarry Street to purchase an annual permit that allows them to park from 5-415 W. Broadway or anywhere on High Street without receiving a ticket. Motorists who do not have a permit and park in those areas are subject to a $50 fine. The ordinance does permit the borough to issue guest passes valid for a 24-hour period.

“This is something residents have asked for and we’ve been working on it for quite some time trying to iron everything out and make it the best it can possibly be for everyone,” Council President Greg Strubinger said in September when the ordinance was approved. “Nobody was under the illusion it would be easy, but we did want to try to do something to help our residents who live in that area have a chance to park near their home.”

Parking is hard to come by in downtown Jim Thorpe, which often draws thousands of tourists on weekends. Many times, residents in the area said, moving a vehicle on the weekend means giving up your spot and sometimes having to walk great distances to your home.

Jim Gilmore, a West Broadway resident, told council he’s been coming to meetings since at least July 2019 about the issue.

“It’s been long enough,” Gilmore said in August. “Nothing is perfect. We need relief. I have a few classic cars and motorcycles and I won’t be able to park them in front of my house, but that’s not a problem. I will definitely give that up if my 73-year-old wife doesn’t have to walk half a mile to get to the house.”

The ordinance calls for each licensed driver in a household to be able to apply for one permit for a vehicle registered in their name.

A permit parking application, as well as applications for guest passes, are available on the borough website, www.jtborough.org.

Broadway ordinance

Borough officials are hopeful the early stages of the permit parking rollout are better received than an ordinance it passed to restrict parking in the first block of Broadway to compact and subcompact vehicles.

Borough officials said the intent of the resolution was to create more room on an already tight street for vehicles, particularly those of the emergency response variety, to get through without potentially hitting a parked vehicle.

The ordinance has yet to be enforced, however, and business owners attended December’s council meeting concerned over how the ordinance would impact their bottom line.

“We have a furniture store,” Tami Davenport, who owns the Wear It Again and Decorate It Again consignment boutique stores at 41 and 25 Broadway, said. “Is someone going to walk down Broadway with a couch and carry it to the county parking lot? It isn’t going to happen.”

Over the years, Mayor Michael Sofranko said, the borough has tried to cram more and more parking spots in downtown. It may be time, he added, to have the public works department restripe parking lines that align with safety standards, even if it means several spots could be lost in the process.