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Office of the Mayor
NEWS RELEASE
October 10, 2007
5:30 p.m.
City to monitor lawn parking under new ordinance
Contact: Chuck Leone, City Attorney, 235-9241,
Property owners who park vehicles on their lawns during Saturday's University of Notre
Dame home football game will have their activities monitored and documented by city
Code Enforcement regulators and South Bend police officers.
The city's new special events parking ordinance was passed Sept. 24 by the South Bend
Common Council and is now in effect. Documentation collected during game day will be
referred to the city's Legal Department for enforcement decisions. Saturday's home game
against Boston College is the first since the ordinance's passage.
Under the legislation now in effect, city property owners wanting to park vehicles on
lawns during Notre Dame home football games need to submit an application and pay a
$5 fee by 4:45 p.m. the Thursday before game day. Violators risk a citation and a$50
fine for the first offense. Subsequent offenses will result in higher fines and the risk of
cancellation or prohibition of future lawn parking. Fines can reach as high as $2,500 for
chronic violators.
City law prohibits parking in front yards in residential neighborhoods, but the new special
events ordinance defined exceptions for Residential One-Day Conditional Use lawn
parking with specific terms and conditions.
As of today, no applications had been filed with the city's Department of Administration
and Finance for a special-events parking permit, although about one dozen applications
were requested by residents.
"This first weekend of enforcement will give us the sense of the amount of resources the
city needs to commit to ensuring that public safety is maintained," said City Attorney
Chuck Leone. "The extensive discussion of this ordinance before its passage should help
provide a high level of cooperation and compliance,."
Applicants may pick up a form in the Administration and Finance office, 12"' floor,
County-City Building, 225 W. Jefferson Blvd.
In order to ensure general public safety, the city will continue to enforce its Municipal
Code regarding:
• Parking that blocks or hinders access by public-safety vehicles on all public streets
and right of ways.
• Parking that blocks or impeded access to sidewalks, fire hydrants and driveways.
• Driving over curbs and sidewalks, other than on a paved driveway.
• Park in a designated "No Parking"zone.
The special events ordinance also includes other provisions, including property owner
responsibilities for the removal of trash as well as tents and trash containers within a
specified time period. In addition, the ordinance prohibits the use of outdoor portable
toilets, except for religious uses, schools or parks, as needed for special events.
The ordinance will continue to be enforced for the remaining Notre Dame home games:
• Oct. 20 vs. USC
• Nov. 3 vs. Navy
• Nov. 10 vs. Air Force
• Nov. 17 vs. Duke
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