High Point says 'no parking on the grass'
High Point residents can't park willy-nilly across their yards after High Point City Council approved text amendments to its development ordinance Monday night.
Changes also limit the number and location of disabled vehicles stored outside. Only one disabled vehicle per household will be allowed in yards and must be placed behind the front building line of the principal building.
When in front or side yards, vehicles must be parked on improved areas, meaning areas that are graveled or paved. Those improved areas also cannot exceed 50 percent of the yard.
The city enforcement officer will investigate complaints and will issue citations with civil fines of $10. A $25 dollar late fee will be accessed if the ticket is not paid in 15 days.
Residents Beverly and Joe McCabe of Birchwood Drive welcomed the changes. They said that it's a nuisance when persons park in their yards. "It's a serious offense to those of us who try to keep up (our properties)," Beverly McCabe said.
Resident Rudy Frazier of Lyndhurst Drive said that the city should look at ways to control the number of families living in a home. He said often there are three to four families crowded into one house. And with that comes many vehicles, often times parked in yards.
City Attorney Fred Baggett said it is difficult to control the number of families in a household because you'd have to define how many persons or families are allowed in a home, decide who is a relative and decide how to enforce any limits.
What about those properties that have several junk cars collecting in backyards, with tall grass growing up around them, Councilman Mike Pugh asked.
Planning officials said junk vehicles are enforced under a separate ordinance.
Planning staff also said that vehicles would not be ticketed when they are parked in a yard for a family gathering or other event. The changes only target persons who habitually park in the front of properties and side yards.
Both vehicle owners and property owners could be ticketed for violations.
Alison Spradley of the High Point Realtors Association's property management council asked the city council not to punish landowners for their tenants' violation of laws.
The council disagreed with Spradley and said that landowners have the responsibility to control what goes on at their properties.
The amendments passed 8-1, with Councilman Bill Bencini voting against.
Bencini said he believes it would be difficult to enforce the ordinance during the evening and weekend hours, when residents are most likely to be at home. Plus, there's too much government control of people's properties, he said.
City Manager Strib Boynton said staff would respond to violations on a complaint basis, even on the evenings and weekends. "Whatever it takes to enforce it," he said.
Contact E.A. Seagraves at 883-4422, Ext. 241, or elizabeth.seagraves@news-record.com
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