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The new and improved Bonner Springs City Library has been a long-awaited dream for many in Bonner, but the Sunday opening has already incited some concern from residents living nearby.

During Monday night’s Bonner Springs City Council meeting, resident Lisa Strobel asked the council and city staff to consider the ramifications for parking that would come with an ordinance amendment on that night’s agenda to prohibit parking on the east side of Allcutt and allow it on the west side of the street, instead. Formerly, parking had only been allowed on the east side, but with a new and larger library, comes new parking needs.

“The rationale is that library patrons could park closer to the library, residents who live on the east side can park on the west side and residents on the east side will not have delivery vehicles parked adjacent to their residence,” a memorandum from city clerk Rita Hoag and through city manager John “Jack” Helin said in regard to the ordinance.

But Strobel, who lives on the west side of Allcutt where parking would be permitted, said this may cause a problem for her and her neighbors when trying to back out of their driveways. She said with library visitors parking in front of their homes, that didn’t leave much room for residents to maneuver their cars out of and into what were already narrow driveways. The space on the narrow street might be so limited, Strobel said they might have to park in the library parking lot at times, and of course, there would be the danger of backing into someone else’s car when trying to back out.

“We’re wondering if you had thought about that at all,” Strobel said.

Another issue Strobel had was the residents in the area hadn’t been given a lot of notice of the possibility of an amendment to the parking ordinance, which would have given her and her neighbors more time in planning and coordinating departures for work. She had only received a letter about the change last Friday, she said.

As to the former set of issues, Helin said Allcutt residents were welcome to park in the library parking lot because it was a public place to park.

As to the latter, he said it was simply a matter of not seeing the parking situation as being a possible problem until late in the game. But, he said, letters had been sent out to residents as soon as the need for an amendment was deemed necessary.

“We have to live there, but (library) patrons come and go,” Strobel said, encouraging the council and city staff to think about their welfare as well as that of library visitors.

Council members thanked Strobel for speaking with them and advised her to give the situation some time.

“Give it awhile, see what happens,” said council member Wayne Gray. “If it’s a big inconvenience, come back.”

Strobel said in the scheme of things, the parking situation wasn’t a major problem for her, but it was something she wanted to bring to the council’s attention. She said she was also happy with having some additional parking at her disposal.

“Since you said we can park in the parking lot, we’re good,” Strobel said.

The council unanimously voted to approve the parking amendment.

In other action Monday, the council:

• Heard citizen concerns about items not on the agenda. Resident Kay Shaver, who lives on 405 N. 142nd Street, brought to the council’s attention a list of complaints, including the city was no longer mowing the roadway as it had previously done, and a stop sign at 142nd Street and Kansas Avenue was barely visible to speeding drivers.

Mayor Clausie Smith said none of her issues could be addressed at the meeting, but said that they would be directed to Helin. He also asked her to see if she could locate a written agreement that the city would take care of the mowing.

Resident Ed Waldo, who lives at 228 Allcutt, also had an issue regarding around 500 feet of overgrown frontage in front of his property that he had taken care of after receiving a letter about it from the city. He said nobody else on his block had done the same, however, and was wondering why. Helin said it was possible his neighbors had also received notices but hadn’t done anything yet.

• Unanimously approved the minutes of the June 22 meeting.

• Unanimously approved supplement claims for city operations totaling $67,611.23 and regular claims totaling $777,560.66.

• Unanimously approved Public Housing Authority claims totaling $4,060.79.

• Unanimously approved the re-appointment of Tom Gray, Robin Neal and Merle Parks to the Bonner Springs Planning Commission to three-year terms and the re-appointment of Gregg Gibson and Paul Mathus to the Board of Zoning Appeals with three-year terms.

• Unanimously approved the commercial business wastewater discharge permit process, pretreatment and reports policy, which includes, among others, the prohibition of discharging such waste substances as fats and grease if these substances are in danger of doing damage to sewers or sewage equipment.

• Unanimously approved an agreement with Wilson and Company for a final design of the phase-two transportation enhancement streetscape project to be done on Front Street. The amount to be paid to Wilson and Company for this job will be $20,550.

• Unanimously approved a massage therapy business license and a therapist II license for Essential Massage, a massage therapy business to be operated out of the Five Fifteen apartment complex at 515 E. Morse.

• Unanimously approved the establishment of project authority and bond authority for up to $600,000 for the Front Street water main project.

• Unanimously approved the establishment of project authority and bond authority in the amount of $2 million to go forward with construction of Front Street. Of that bond, $700,000 will be paid for through grant funding.

• Unanimously authorized the sale of general obligation bonds totaling an estimated $7.9 million and temporary notes totaling an estimated $4.9 million. Final dollar amounts of the general obligation bonds and temporary notes, which will go towards such items as the Woodend Bridge and Front Street projects, will be brought to the council during the Aug. 10 meeting.

• Unanimously approved a low voltage change order for the new library in the amount of $14,984. This change order will go toward the installation of phone cabling and a security system.

• Heard the city manager’s report. Helin announced there would be a special meeting Aug. 3 to discuss bid particulars for the Front Street project. He also recommended the city go through a bond rating process that may help to lower interest rates on bond issues.

He said this wasn’t a typical practice for smaller communities like Bonner Springs, but the $900,000 fee to get rated would be worth it if the city could see some savings down the line in interest. The council agreed this was a good idea, and the city will move forward with the rating process.

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