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Council moves to clarify parking rules on undeveloped park strips, approves longer snow-removal window
Summary
Council discussed enforcement of parking in undeveloped park strips, asked staff for targeted line-painting/engineering studies, and approved first-read ordinances updating parking definitions and extending the sidewalk snow-removal compliance window to 48 hours.
Council took up a citywide enforcement topic that combined two closely related code concerns: (1) parking on undeveloped park strips/rights-of-way and (2) sidewalk snow removal timeframes.
On parking, staff briefed the council on complaints and enforcement that have come up on older arterial streets (notably portions of 3200 South, 8 West and 2600 South) where there is no curb-and-gutter and residents have historically used the park strip for parking. Staff proposed defining “developed park strip” (where curb/gutter/sidewalk exists) and treating non-curbed right-of-way differently. That approach would allow limited parking in undeveloped park strips where vehicles do not block bike lanes or sidewalks, while allowing the city to prohibit parking where curb and sidewalk indicate a developed park strip.
Councilmembers and several public commenters raised safety and operational concerns — especially near schools and where bike lanes exist — and asked staff to produce stripe/engineering options, clearer signage and a schedule for community notice. Council also heard that enforcement to date has included warnings and citations and that residents want clarity about where parking is allowed.
On snow removal, staff proposed increasing the compliance window for clearing sidewalks after a storm from a shorter time period to 48 hours after the storm ends to reduce overtime and allow staff flexibility. The council also discussed targeted priority for sidewalks on safe-route-to-school corridors and the possibility of on-call city clearing when residents cannot remove snow.
The council passed first readings on code language updates to clarify parking in park strips and on snow-clearing (ordinance drafting and fee scheduling to follow). Council instructed staff to bring engineering striping options for the main problem corridors (e.g., 3200 South, 2600 South and 8 West), to define signage needs and to return with a consolidated fee schedule entry if they wish to set a specific citation amount for snow/obstruction violations.
