Council talks front yard parking
Tonight the city council will be discussing front yard parking. A proposed restriction would ban residents from parking on their lawns in front of their homes.
Residents would still be able to have 2 spaces off of their driveway as long as it was less than 40% of their available lawn. Thomas Crowder is a strong advocate of these measures- he feels that it is a quality of life issue. The idea fits into the broken window theory and would be seen to help clean up neighborhoods, particularly those with several renters to one residence. The issue is a long standing one for Councilor Crowder, who at one point advocated limits on the number of renters that could occupy a single residence.
In this election year the council candidates look for issues that separate them from their challengers. Crowder’s district D has both long-time home owners and many rental residences, but many renters are students who do not participate in the local elections process.
In Brief
- Prohibit parking on front lawns where parking is limited to paved or gravel surfaces with permanent discernable edges in order to eliminate erosion and silt from washing into our streets and stormwater systems.
- Limits parking in front yards to the linear depth of the front yard area multiplied by twelve (12) feet [plus three hundred and thirty (330) square feet - if needed ] or forty (40) per cent of the front yard area, whichever is less. The exceptions would be where very small front yards exist like cul-de-sacs; no more than 40% of the front yard can be paved and used for parking in such cases.
- Limits impervious surfaces for parking in many cases to 40% of the front yards.
- Requires landscaping where circular drives are installed, and/or parking pads (limited to 330 square feet) allow parking more than 90 degrees perpendicular to the public right of way in order to mitigate the visual impacts of cars and shield headlights from intruding onto adjacent properties.
- Requires a permit for all future driveways and parking pads.
The hearing will be held at 6:30 in the Avery C Upchurch building.
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Rick
07/21 11:35 AM
umm…so the police would come onto my property to ticket my car, all so things look better? no thanks.
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Micah
07/21 02:26 PM
I think these rules are perfectly acceptable. My home parking areas easily fit inside these guidelines. At my old home in Mordecai I lived next to a rental that frequently had (in addition to the broken down car with weeds growing around it) 5 or 6 cars in their front yard. It was extremely unattractive. What made it a little more annoying was the constant presence of many on-street spaces right in front of their house.
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Ken Metzger
07/21 03:17 PM
Seems like a rule more fit for a home owner’s association.
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Micah
07/21 03:53 PM
HOA’s nearly always have rules about parking lawns and maximum amount of property that can be designated for parking like this, only much more restrictive. They are actually quite common (outside of HOA’s) in big cities and especially in historic neighborhoods.
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T-Plain
07/22 12:58 PM
Damn kids! Get off your own lawn!
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JeffS
07/22 01:03 PM
Wait… we’re advocating PAVING to solve runoff issues?
I’m calling bullshit on this one. I’ve no idea what this is about, but it’s not about runoff. Is this a beautification project? Is it targeted at people living 10-deep in a one-bedroom apartment?
I wish for once lawmakers would quit hiding their true intentions with these laws.
personally, I say ban all impervious driveways and call it a day, but I’m not the one on a witch hunt here.
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Micah
07/22 01:54 PM
I don’t think they are ADVOCATING paving, and I don’t think it is about runoff. It is probably more about beautification. No where in the proposed law does it advocate paving, though it provides rules for the square footage and type of both paved surfaces and gravel or other permeable surfaces. If they tried to outlaw paved driveways in Raleigh there would be mass rioting in the streets.
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JeffS
07/22 02:05 PM
Prohibiting parking on the lawn effectively encourages more paving, as additional driveway space will be added to accommodate the cars. You’re right about the attachment to concrete though, and the rioting would only prove how clueless we all are. Progressive areas of the country have been working to limit runoff for some time now.
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Shibby
07/22 06:52 PM
Some follow-up after the council meeting:
http://lineberry.org/blogs/2009/07/22/front-yard-parking-goes-to-planning-commission/ -
JeffS
07/22 09:22 PM
Prevent soil compaction—by covering it with huge slabs of concrete. Um, yea…
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TC
07/27 11:06 AM
Completely unreasonable and a classic example of a nose where it doesn’t belong.
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Todd Morman
07/28 04:41 PM
I’ve read that Charlotte already bans front-yard parking. Can anyone confirm that?
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green green grass of home
07/28 07:21 PM
And Greensboro
http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-gso-lawn-parking-090716,0,7319211.story
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