At least three years of discussion culminated Thursday night with Jim Thorpe Borough Council voting to advertise a permit parking ordinance aimed at opening more spots for local residents on West Broadway and High Street.

The draft ordinance would allow 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 would be subject to a $50 fine. The ordinance does permit the borough to issue guest passes valid for a 24-hour period.

“We want to help the residents first,” Councilman Jay Miller said before the vote. “People who live there ought to have parking spots.”

Several residents spoke in favor of the ordinance before the vote, including Chris Gehres, who lives on West Broadway.

“Let’s pass it and get it over with, and we can fix little details after that,” Gehres said. “We have to get the ball rolling.”

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.

James “Trooper” Pompa told council Thursday night that would preclude him from parking his secondary, classic vehicle near his house and could prevent family from parking close on a spontaneous visit.

“It’s not perfect and I don’t think it ever will be,” Miller said. “If we try to make it perfect and please everyone, we’ll be talking about this in 2023 and beyond.”

The motion to advertise the ordinance, which could then be formally adopted next month, passed unanimously, followed by a brief round of applause.

“I agree if we’re going to move on it, then we need to move on it,” Council Greg Strubinger said.

Another West Broadway resident, Jim Gilmore, said he’s been coming to council meetings since July 2019 about the issue.

“It’s been long enough,” Gilmore said. “Nothing is perfect. We need relief. I, like Trooper, have a few classic cars and motorcycles and I won’t be able to park them in front of my house either, 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.”

Council planned to discuss enforcement of the ordinance, which could include adding a parking enforcement employee to ticket vehicles when necessary.

“Parking is one of the biggest complaints coming into our police department,” Mayor Michael Sofranko said. “We’re dealing with it all day long. We want to help here, but we need the manpower to be able to enforce this.”

Borough Manager Maureen Sterner said the borough will have to order extra signs since the draft ordinance was revised to include High Street as a permitted parking area in addition to West Broadway.

The ordinance, if passed, would go into effect Jan. 2, 2022.