Joe Corleone, owner of the Rustic Grotto on state Route 199, is angry over the fact that the township board of supervisors is again considering banning all parking along the portion of the state highway within the township.
Back in June the supervisors greed to shelve the proposed ordinance after hearing concerns from two business owners, Corleone and Tom Hoskings of the Valley Stockyards, that banning parking along the entire length of Route 199 would be detrimental to their enterprises.
However, the next month Township Police Chief Larry Hurley in a letter to the board recommended that the municipality move forward with this parking ban, citing safety concerns along that stretch of highway.
“This letter is in response to the traffic study/parking situation that you have asked me to look into on Route 199 between the Chemung River bridge and Route 220,” Hurley said in his letter. “We are concerned that the speed limit continues to be 55 miles per hour through the majority of the area in question. We would recommend that all side-road parking should be eliminated through the entire area of Route 199 for safety issues.”
The supervisors voted at that time to readvertise this ordinance, which they will vote on at their Aug. 27 meeting.
Parking along the east side of the entire stretch of Route 199 was eliminated by in 2005 via an ordinance enacted by the township supervisors.
However, if the board decides to move forward with banning parking on the west side of the road, Corleone said it could end up closing his business for good.
“My neighbor at the Valley Stockyards, when they have their busy weekdays, the parking (for that business) comes all the way beyond my building,” said Corleone. “If they take away the parking, they will not only hurt that man’s business, his customers will have nowhere to park, and they will flood my parking lot. My customers (will not be able) to get in, and I’m out of business.”
Corleone said he is only allowed to have 19 parking spots for his business. When his business gets really busy, any overflow of customers park their vehicles along the west side of state Route 199.

Corleone noted that customers to his business who drive campers or tractor trailers have to park in front of his establishment because his parking area is too small for those vehicles.
He added that he plans to attend next week’s supervisors’ meeting to voice his concerns over this issue.
“Both the gentleman who owns the stockyards and myself are new business owners here, but these businesses have been here for over 120 years and have been operating for over 80 years,” said Corleone.
Corleone added that he is hopeful that the township supervisors will not adopt this ordinance next week.
“I just feel that they should look at our point of view and see where we are going,” he said, adding that there have not been any accidents in that area caused by people parking along Route 199.
The Aug. 27 meeting of the Athens Township Board of Supervisors will be held at 7 p.m. at the municipal building on Herrick Avenue. The public is invited to attend.
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Warren Howeler can be reached at whoweler@morning-times.com.