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Greensboro’s new ban on front-yard parking has been on the books for a month, and so far, inspectors say the calls swamping city switchboards fall into three categories:

1. My neighbor parks on his front yard. Give him a ticket.

2. It’s my land, and I can park where I want to.

3. My neighbor parks on his front yard, too. Why didn’t he get a ticket?

“It riles up the fur on the backs of people’s necks,” said Jeff McClintock, one of two zoning enforcement officers who have been working with the complaints full-time. “We don’t make everybody happy.”

The ban, also adopted by other nearby cities, says that except for events such as family reunions or yard sales, homeowners and tenants cannot park in the grass or dirt of their front yards, only in a driveway or clearly defined parking area. Parking in back is permitted.

The purpose is to promote curb appeal and neighborhood aesthetics, and to prevent erosion of grass and green space from wear, tear and motor oil.

Even though planners warned the City Council about the impact of the ban in other cities, Greensboro Planning Manager Rawls Howard said the volume of public response has caught City Hall off guard.

Since July 15, according to telephone contact center manager Mary Jutte, there have been 200 front-yard parking work orders generated for the two zoning enforcement officers. Another 59 people called to complain about warning letters they received; so far, no penalties have been issued because the ordinance is so new.

“A lot of (the 59 protests) are along the lines of property rights,” Jutte said. “Pretty much, 'How dare you? This is my property.’ Some people say they want to park in the shade under a tree. They say they want to be 'green’ so they don’t have to run their air conditioner as much.”

In the zoning enforcement section of the city Planning Department, the volume of calls on front-yard parking became so high that a phone greeting relays the calls to the contact center.

One complaint, it appears, leads to another.

“We have vigilante folks riding around,” Howard said. “Someone complained about them. So now, they want to complain about someone else.”

But on top of the 200 violations that were called in, another 298 came from a single citizen’s e-mail, at the invitation of the Planning Department itself. Last spring, the city asked neighborhood groups to assess the problem in their neighborhoods, and Glenwood resident Brian Higgins went to work.

Higgins, vice president of Greater Glenwood Neighborhood Association, created a spread sheet, then drove through Glenwood block by block, taking down each address that violated any or all three parts of the new ban:

1. No more than 40 percent of a front yard can be dedicated to parking.

2. Parking areas have to be an all-weather surface such as concrete or gravel. (Grass and bare earth are not allowed.)

3. Parking must be limited to a clearly delineated area, marked off by landscape edges or timbers (not just loose gravel).

His “windshield” survey revealed the same experience that other cities have had with front-yard parking ordinances: Older and poorer neighborhoods are those most effected.

Late Friday afternoon, as the work week ended, the same sights were evident as those Higgins recorded in June, before the ordinance took effect. On such back streets as Highland and Gregory, cars and trucks were pulled up on bare, packed-dirt yards, atop tree roots, close to houses, rather than parked in the street.

On the one hand, Higgins said he saw the “eyesore” part of his neighborhood in adding up all the addresses in violation — along with the landlords who had not provided driveways on lots with ample space.

On the other hand, Higgins also wonders how the city can force a working-class neighborhood, with this many low-end landlords, into compliance.

“I was surprised by how many properties this ordinance captured — an awful lot of homes that are not going to have the means to comply,” said Higgins, a server at Mellow Mushroom who recently founded the nonprofit Sustainable Greensboro.

“The flip side is, there are a lot of landlords who could stand to take better care of their property.”

Howard, the planning manager, said that for the first 90 days that the ordinance is in effect, the city will be in an educational phase.

If those who receive a warning letter do not choose to appeal — for example on the basis of a hardship or handicap — there are a series of fines, beginning with a $50 penalty and increasing for each violation from $100 to $500.

For details, call 373-CITY.

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com