04/18/07 Committee Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

Heald, and Public Safety Committee April '18, 2007 Page 5 In response to questions from Council Member Puzzello, Mr. Littrell statement many of the residential subdivisions which are experiencing parking problems are those that were developed immediately after World War II when there were significant demands for residential development. Those developments often did not include driveways and were designed to provide access from alleys. Those development standards often did not include curbs or sidewalks and were not like the residential subdivision regulations now being required. In response to questions from Council Member Pfeifer, Mr. Littrell stated that 'hot spots" included such areas as Wooden Estates, areas south of Western, areas north of Sample and Olive, areas north of Lincolnway; areas along Portage and Bendix. He sees ongoing analysis as an important tool in this area. Council Member White then invited the Code Enforcement Director to address the Committee. Catherine Toppel, Code Enforcement Director, thanked the Common Council for bringing this matter to the forefront, since she has been working on problems of this type for the past several years. She stated that her department receives numerous complaints on a daily basis about lawn parking, and that the problem is city-wide. She stated that she sees this issue as both a public safety problem as well as a quality of life issue. Ms. Toppel stated that the city had front yard parking regulations on the books in April or May of 2004 through June of 2005 when the Circuit Court issued a ruling against the city. Although the regulations where used for less than a year which gave Code Enforcement officers the authority to issue citations, 34 citations were issued during that period of time. She noted that once citations were issued, that the majority of the parking problems went away. Ms. Toppel then reviewed the information in her March 14th memorandum. She noted that there are no code inspectors who regularly work nights ar weekends, but that they are on-call. In response to inquires from Council Member White, Ms. Toppel stated that if the ordinance is passed that Code would go out if there were problems after hours. She stated that she has "adequate staff now" and that she was sure about enforcement "absolutely" as proposed. Ms. Toppel envisioned a brochure on parking to be very helpful She noted that she met earlier today with Council Member Puzzello, the Council Attorney and the Assistant City Attorney and agrees with the suggested changes highlighted in Bill No. 17-07. She stated that she stands in support of the regulations. In response to questions from Council Member Pfeifer, Ms. Toppel noted that with regard to zoning regulations that warnings are sent out first. Zoning fines begin at $50, $100 and $250 for repeat violators. The fines are collected by the Ordinance Violations Bureau. Environmental fines had been turned over to a local collection agency,