A neighborly dispute resulted in Jim Thorpe Borough Council authorizing its solicitor last week to draft a no-parking ordinance on a small section of Main Street.

Amanda Hydro, who resides in the 400 block of Main Street, asked council at a March 3 workshop if it could help her deal with a sight issue when she pulls out of her driveway."Our neighbor across the street is parking one of his cars on our side of the street and one on his side," Hydro told council. "We've asked him if he could park on his side of the street, and he said he could, but wouldn't do it out of principle."Borough President Greg Strubinger said the neighbor gave the same response to him when he attended a previous committee meeting.According to Maureen Sterner, the ordinance, which had yet to be drafted as of Monday, will prohibit parking "in the area of 420 Main St., east for 175 feet."The timeline would have council voting to advertise the ordinance in April and adopt the change in May."I think this is a situation where we want to help our resident if at all possible," Councilman Jay Miller said. "I'm sensing some undertones of harassment and a real dispute between neighbors, but what we can do in our role is really limited to the parking."Hydro and Jim Thorpe Public Works Supervisor Vince Yaich both said that the street is narrow, causing one vehicle to have at least a portion of its tires off the road if two vehicles are going past each other.While there hasn't been an accident because of the issue, Police Chief Joe Schatz said it could be considered a safety concern. Schatz's measurements show it is 108 feet from the end of the Hydro driveway to where the neighbor parks."That, more than anything, concerns me if we can't get two cars down the street at the same time," Councilman John McGuire said. "If we can't get emergency equipment through there in a pinch, that's a big problem."During her request of the neighbor, Hydro said he pointed at her and yelled, "no.""He's been awful ever since that point," she said.Mayor Michael Sofranko said nothing in the law currently prohibits someone from parking where the neighbor does, but a car does have to be moved within 72 hours if the driver parks there."Now let's face it, he could move it down the street, or around the block, so the only way to really stop the parking is to adopt the ordinance," he added.There is precedent for council's action.Several years back there was an issue with kids parking along 13th street, near the Carbon Career & Technical Institute.With neighbors unhappy because their yards were being beat up and trash was strewed about, council reported, a no-parking ordinance was enacted."In reality, there are other areas where you have looked at no parking and it impacted a lot of cars," Yaich said. "This is just one car."Council reported on another parking issue in town along Silk Street."The bank is deteriorating and cars parking there are edging closer to the road," Sterner said. "It is posted a temporary no-parking zone right now, but we're going to have to address it."