Othello opts not to change parking rules

OTHELLO - Property owners in Othello can carry on parking vehicles on unpaved areas of their residential lots.

The Othello City Council struck down an ordinance that would have added a new section to the city's municipal code pertaining to parking on existing residential lots.

Vehicles would no longer be allowed to park on lawn or landscaped areas of the front yard and would instead have been limited to improved surfaces "such as gravel, concrete, or asphalt" no greater than 30 feet in width and "extending generally perpendicular from the structure to the street."

The discussion on whether to impose the new regulations began in an April planning commission meeting, where the commission recommended no action be taken. Despite the commission's advice, the issue was carried into a council workshop earlier this month.

Some council members had concerns about the ordinance Monday, questioning if the action might be perceived as an overreach of government and pointing to the lack of citizen input on the matter.

"It would be different if we had numerous complaints on this issue, but we haven't had those," Councilman Kenneth Johnson said. "The only complaints I've heard are from the council itself."

Councilman Charles Garcia questioned the difficulty of enforcement.

"Where do you draw that fine line? The guy pulls up to load up a fridge and he leaves (the vehicle) there for two hours and all of a sudden he's in violation of this ordinance."

City planner Darryl Piercy defended the ordinance, saying that code enforcement officers always make every effort to seek compliance before they begin issuing citations.

In the end the motion failed when Councilman Marc Spohr received no second in his motion to approve the ordinance.

"That's terrible, that we can't improve the city," Spohr said following the vote. "We stay in hillbilly mode while our attorney advises us that this (ordinance) is common in other cities."