(...for West Newsmagazine...online Oct. 22,2021...my first event covered for the city of Ellisville)
A bill regarding parking annoyances was the subject of discussion and interest at the Ellisville City Council meeting held Wednesday, Oct. 20. Not only did all six council members weigh in on a bill amending current regulations to prohibit parking in specified places (Bill 3725), but it was the only one of four legislative bills that drew a series of public comments. The discussions led to one section being amended and another totally removed.
The meeting began with an already amended version of a piece of legislation focused on what to do about automobiles parked for prolonged periods on city streets.
That section read: “No person shall park a vehicle on any roadway for an uninterrupted period of time longer than twenty-four (24) hours except in an emergency.”
Ellisville resident Marilyn Niebling voiced her disagreement with the proposed time period during the public comments portion of the meeting.
“I hope we don’t do something that’s going to make parking harder for obedient residents and nice neighbors in order to solve a problem that exists in some areas,” Niebling said. “In my mind, 24 hours of having to get out and move your car is an effort. Where I live, we do not have driveways. I can’t put my car in my driveway. No one pretty much can on my side of the street where I have to park or my guests have to park. There’s only parking on one side of the street, which happens to be that same side. Therefore, it would be challenging if you have overnight or out-of-town guests for the weekend to be concerned with going out and moving the car every 24 hours, and trying to figure out how to get it shuffled around.”
As an alternative, Niebling proposed a 72-hour window.
Ellisville Police Chief Steve Lewis also said that there was similar ordinance passed in his 24 years with the Chesterfield Police Department where the window for car removal was 48 hours. However, Lewis agreed with Niebling's proposed 72-hour time frame. He also added that the concern is targeted toward individuals who consistently disregard neighbors and block streets and driveways in subdivisions.
“I always envision this to be a complaint-driven type of ordinance,” council member Vince McGrath (District 1) said. “The problem District 1 is having is not just somebody coming through to a park and parking there for awhile. We’re talking about people parking on a street continuously for weeks at a time.”
Meanwhile, Dan Duffy (District 3) specifically disagreed with a section of the bill that read: “No person shall park a vehicle on any roadway which adjoins a residence unless the person has as his/her destination a residence adjacent to such street."
"We have a lot of young families who drive to the neighborhood parks, have to park on the street, and it’s not their street, and it doesn’t adjoin a residence of their destination," Duffy said. "They’re heading to the park. I know at Meadowlark Park, lots of times the park is fairly crowded, people drive to the park and park adjacent to residences that are near the park. We’ve never really had problems with that. So, I would hate to see that limited by this part of the ordinance.”
Ellisville council members ultimately agreed the section should be removed from the bill.
(Photo Source: Pixabay)
Council member Mick Cahill (District 2) brought up additional points regarding the 72-hour rule and its potential enforcement.
“How would you know if the vehicle doesn’t come home for the day, come back for the evening or vice-versa?” Cahill asked Lewis. “Maybe they go out in the night and park all day there, like a night shift nurse. I truly believe this has to be complaint driven.
“I would also like to know how are we going to let the homeowners know this because you’re saying this would be no tolerance, and if a homeowner doesn’t know that this is an ordinance; they’ve been parking in front of their home for years … and maybe only drive their car on the weekends, and take the bus during the week, or have a different vehicle that they drive and keep in their garage, and leave a car on the street, although no one’s being bothered by it, nobody knows. So, how is the city going to come around and notify everybody of this?”
Lewis responded that first, once there was a formal complaint, officers would come out and do visual observations, note that in Ellisville’s log, electronically note the location of the vehicle, and return the officer to observe that violation in the same location. At that point, he could issue the summons or parking ticket.
He added that he complaint would start in the notification. For example, the three-day violation wouldn’t start because the car was there for five days. Once the police are officially involved is when the three days would start.
“Then, my direction to the officer would be that we make contact,” Lewis said. “We would mark that car in some fashion, and we would contact that owner within those three days.”
The bill was passed by a council vote and became Ordinance 3494, with Cahill voting in objection. The ordinance will be full force and effect 30 days from and after its approval by the council.
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