HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Council Action Form dated October 27, 1998 ITEM
DATE: October 27, 1998
COUNCIL ACTION FORM
SUBJECT: MODIFICATIONS TO THE SNOW ROUTE ORDINANCE
BACKGROUND:
Since 1978 the City has had a snow ordinance that provided for modifying parking
regulations whenever snow accumulated to depths greater than two (2") inches. The
removal of parked cars on specifically designated streets facilitates the snow plowing
operations. The ordinance provides for a process of placing the snow ordinance in
effect through public announcement, ticketing the vehicles that have not been relocated,
and towing those vehicles. However, the exact wording of the ordinance is that parking
is ". . . prohibited at any time when snow-removal operations are in progress . . .". This
wording has created some legal problems because the actual implementation of the
ordinance has dealt with putting the snow ordinance into effect early enough so that the
ticketing and towing operations can be underway ahead of the snow plowing operations.
In the last year, several tickets were dismissed because they were issued prior to snow
plowing activities actually starting along the street area where the tickets were written.
In order to address this situation, the Legal Department has prepared a revision to the
ordinance that provides for the parking to be illegal at the time the snow ordinance is
placed in effect. This change will allow the tickets to stand up to the legal concerns
raised in past years.
In addition, the current regulations in commercial areas (Downtown and Campustown)
require an eight-hour posting prior to being able to tow vehicles out of the way of snow
removal operations. In order to meet the needs of these two commercial areas that
notice time has not proved reasonable. Presently, the snow removal operations are
nearly always undertaken the first night after the storm so that as many of the parking
spaces as possible are available the next business day. The requirement for providing
the posted notices for at least eight hours usually does not allow the illegally parked
vehicles to be towed out of the way of the snow removal operations.
The proposal as shown on the attached ordinance, provides for a specific public
announcement dealing with parking as it relates to snow removal in the Downtown and
Campustown area streets. Once the snow removal announcement is made, parking
would be prohibited on the streets in the areas designated. The designated areas could
involve either of the commercial districts or both of them depending on the work needing
to be accomplished. The ordinance would also provide for a specific time period once it
was placed in effect. The parking would be prohibited from Midnight until 6.00 A.M. the
following day. Users of the on-street parking would have alternative parking locations in
the municipal parking lots in each of the areas. Those parking lots will have had the
snow piled up by the time the on-street parking ban is implemented.
CAF — Modify Snow Route Ordinance
October 27, 1998
Page 2
The proposed changes to the snow ordinance will provide a better level of control on the
vehicles that are impeding the snow plowing and removal operations by making the
ability to remove those vehicles from the street as efficient as possible.
Staff will be bringing a report to Council at the November 10, 1998 meeting in
which a general discussion of snow plowing operations will be presented.
Following the 1997/98 snow season, focus groups were held for public input and
staff reviewed the existing program for improvement. That information and a
recommendation for change will be included on November 10th. Staff requests
action on the ordinance changes be initiated now in order to have them in place
before December 1, 1998.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. Approve the proposed changes clarifying the snow ordinance implementation
and creating the new section dealing with specific times for snow removal in the
Downtown and Campustown commercial areas.
2. Reject the snow ordinance change and implement the commercial district
changes.
3. Approve the snow ordinance change and reject the commercial district changes.
4. Reject the proposed changes and leave the ordinance as it is.
MANAGER'S RECOMMENDED ACTION:
It is recommended by the City Manager that the snow route ordinance be modified to
change the requirement that ticketing and towing can't be initiated until the snowplowing
operations start to a new requirement that ticketing and towing can be initiated when the
public announcement is made that the snow ordinance is in effect. It is also
recommended that the program of establishing commercial snow removal parking
regulations be adopted to facilitate the coordination of the work required to clean the
Downtown and Campustown businesses.
COUNCIL ACTION: