A narrow street near the Shelby County Fairgrounds was again a topic of discussion for the City of Shelbyville’s Board of Works and Public Safety.

The city is looking into traffic flow along James St., one block north of the fairgrounds. Parking is currently allowed on both sides of the street which narrows near a 90 degree left turn at its eastern point.

A Shelbyville Central Schools bus has difficulties getting down the street with cars parking on both sides. And if the bus has difficulties then so will emergency response vehicles.

Residents along James St. have been contacted by the city to discuss removing parking from one side of the street. Several have responded that they do not have issue with that as long as it’s not their side of the street where parking is eliminated, according to city engineer John Kuntz.

At Tuesday morning’s Board of Works meeting, Gary Doremus, a resident at 947 James St. for two-plus decades, addressed the board and confirmed traffic flow issues.

James St. is nearly 24 feet wide when accessed from Frank St. but narrows to less than 21 feet across as you travel east, according to Doremus. That leaves approximately seven feet of clearance for a vehicle such as a bus when passing between two parked vehicles.

“Fire trucks and ambulances aren’t getting any smaller,” said fire chief Tony Logan, who was in attendance at the meeting. “And if you can’t get a bus down (there), we probably can’t get our vehicles down there.”

Shelbyville mayor Tom DeBaun, who is one of three members of the Board of Works, admitted he had not visited the area to see the issue first hand and wanted to do so before making a decision on eliminating parking on one side of the road.

The issue will be addressed at the final Board of Works meeting of 2021 on Jan. 28 at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall.