Jefferson residents can expect a change in the snow emergency parking ordinance before the flakes fly in another two or three months. The new rule: Don’t park on the street if it snows.
The city council’s streets committee met Tuesday and after discussion, will recommend to the council a change in the ordinance, taking out some leniency that was added in 2011.
For many years the ordinance banned parking on residential streets any time there was more than 1/2 inch of snow until the snow was cleared. The ordinance was amended in 2011 to allow parking on the streets from 6 am to 6 pm.
That has proven unworkable. “There’s no sense in having an ordinance if that’s what it’s going to be,” street superintendent Dave Teeples told the committee.
Teeples said it takes about four hours to clear the residential streets. After that’s finished, Jefferson police officers take photographs of any cars parked on the street that the plows needed to go around. The photo is the basis for a citation. Police chief Dave Morlan said the crews are often not done until after 6 am and that officers don’t have enough time to get the photos taken as needed to enforce the ordinance.
By disallowing parking any time new snow falls, officers won’t be under a time constraint. They can photograph a car that’s been plowed around any time.
The ordinance will not change regarding parking in the downtown district. There parking will be banned only from 2 to 6 am. Downtown residents will still be able to park in city-owned parking lots when it snows.
In other business, Teeples told the committee the crew will begin Thursday trimming trees – on the public right-of-way and on private property – that hang over city streets. He cited damage to city equipment caused by hitting tree limbs as the reason. “People might not like it, but that’s the way it is,” Teeples said. The trimming is expected to take several weeks.
