Parking Ordinance Committee making progress

Parking Ordinance Committee making progress - New ordinance to be drafted

The Apopka Parking Ordinance Advisory Committee met for the third time last Monday in the City Council Chambers in City Hall.

All six members of the committee were present as was Chief Michael McKinley and Captain Randy Fernandez from the Apopka Police Department. There were seven members of the public observing the proceedings.

Each committee member reported on the research they each had conducted regarding the parking laws in several Central Florida cities. Those cities included:

Altamonte Springs

Clermont

Debary

Leesburg

Longwood

Maitland

Mount Dora

Ocoee

Sanford

Winter Garden

Winter Park

The parking rules in these cities was fairly consistent. All allowed on-street parking in residential areas. All had restrictions regarding proximity to fire hydrants, intersections, curves and so on. Some prohibited parking within a specified distance from a mailbox.

Several cities had a requirement that mandated a minimum of 10 to 10.5 feet of clearance for vehicles to pass. It was noted that this requirement effectively prohibited parking on both sides of a street that was less than 22 feet wide. Captain Fernandez stated that the City’s firetrucks were 9 feet wide, but that additional clearance was needed for mirrors.

Chief McKinley noted that it appeared that most cities had incorporated the Florida Statues into their ordinances and explained that there were two reasons for this:

1. If the parking rules were in the ordinance the officer could issue a ticket and leave it on the vehicle’s windshield. If the rules were not in an ordinance a Uniform Citation could be issued, but that would require the driver to acknowledge the citation with his or her signature.

2. If the parking rules were in the ordinance, then the City could keep the entire amount of any fine that may be levied. If the rule were not in the ordinance, then the bulk of the fine would be kept by the State of Florida.

At the end of the meeting Chief McKinley asked everyone to email their ideas to him. He planned to begin drafting a new ordinance next week. The draft would be distributed to the Committee before the next meeting which will be on Monday, August 29, 2016 at 6:30 PM in the City Council Chambers.