Members of the Dillwyn Town Council voted to table a decision regarding parking along a curb on Dillwyn’s Main Street following a public hearing during which six people spoke, three in favor of and three against a proposed ordinance limiting parking on the sides of the street.

Those in favor of the proposed ordinance cited safety concerns, and those in opposition to it cited lack of available parking to employees and visitors.

“The public hearing was regarding the town having a proposed ordinance about no parking from the town hall to the pharmacy,” Town Mayor Linda Venable Paige said.

Paige and Town Secretary Loretta Reams said the public hearing, which took place during the Jan. 9 town council meeting, featured different sides of the debate.

Reams said six spoke during the public hearing with three in favor of enforcing an ordinance about limiting or eliminating parking on the sides of the roads along the Main Street area and three speaking in opposition to the ordinances and allowing parking to remain as it has been.

Reams said Thelma Childress, Jimmy O’Bryant and Faye Shumaker spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance, and L.P. Gilliam, F. Acie Allen and John Staton spoke in favor of maintaining the parking. Reams said Gilliam, Allen, Staton and O’Bryant own businesses along Main Street.

The curb, town hall and pharmacy are located in the 1000 block of Dillwyn’s Main Street by the clock tower.

“The suggestion was made that we table the item for 90 days,” Paige said.

Paige said the council first began looking into the parking situation over the summer when she and members of the town council expressed concern about parking along the curb and about tractor-trailers and trucks having to veer away from the parked cars, which sometimes results in the trucks traveling around the center line of the roadway, creating a potential threat to vehicles traveling in the opposite direction.

Paige described the debate as “unreal.”

“I thought it would be an easy thing, that people would just agree,” Paige said.

“We are working tirelessly to resolve that issue,” Paige said about the council looking into the parking ordinance.

Dillwyn Pharmacist Terry Towler, of Dillwyn Pharmacy, said regarding the area that’s the subject of the proposed ordinance, approximately three cars can park in the area.

“I certainly hope they don’t do away with the parking lot,” Towler said.

He said the ordinance would have a potential negative impact on business.

“When you’re taking parking off the street … nobody’s there,” Towler said.

He said he had discussed with Paige about potentially limiting the amount of cars that can park in the area instead of eliminating the parking option.

Towler noted recent vehicle accidents on Main Street and said more so than the curb, speed had been the issue.

“It’s not parking on the street that’s the problem, it’s the traffic flow,” Towler said, noting U. S. Route 15 as a well-traveled area and that motorists often try to exceed the town’s 25-mile-an-hour speed limit. “If they observe the speed limit, it’s no problem.”

“Hopefully they will be able to make a compromise,” Towler said about the ordinance.