St. Clair Shores

Curb-parking ban defeated

By Kristyne E. Demske
C & G Staff Writer

A lack of support for revised parking ordinances means that, for now, the city won’t have further recourse against drivers who park their vehicle with two wheels on the curb and two in the street.

An amended ordinance was brought before City Council in June trying to outlaw just that after tickets written by St. Clair Shores police officers were thrown out by judges at the 40th District Court because the current ordinance prohibits parking on the grass between the curb and the sidewalk, but says nothing about parking just on the curb.

The newly drafted ordinance would have prohibited that, but allowed vehicles to be parked in the approach of one’s own driveway. Instead, the current ordinance stands, which prohibits parking in driveway approaches, as that is part of the city’s easement. And police said they decide curb-parking issues on a case-by-case basis because the current ordinance is ambiguous.

“We’d prefer not to see people do that because it does damage the curbs,” said Lt. Steve Lambert.

Supporting the change was Councilman Chris Vitale, who said during the July 30 study session that parking on the curb would lead to further blight and needed to be nipped in the bud.

“I think we’re doing it because I know residents say to me (that they are) tired of seeing the neighborhood degraded like thi. They want to see somebody fight blight,” he said. “I see it all the time. I think something needs to be done. I think the problem needs to be nipped now.”

But Councilwoman Candice Rusie pointed out that disallowing curb parking would be problematic for more than a dozen streets in the city, such as Alexander, which are not the city’s standard 27 feet in width.

“That basically means they can’t park on their street anymore,” she said.

And Lambert said at the study session that allowing parking in the driveway approach “is just waiting for trouble.”

“We’re going to have problems with kids darting out between cars into the street,” he said.

Councilman Peter Rubino said he just doesn’t see the same problem of parking on the curbs around the city that Vitale does.

“All four wheels have to be on the street (if the ordinance were amended), so if my great-aunt comes over and has that one tire a little bit up and a little down, she can get a ticket, right?” he said. “I don’t even know why we’re talking about this. I don’t see the problem. I want our Police Department to worry about the serious stuff, not if a car’s parking on the curb.”

Because council members couldn’t agree, Mayor Kip Walby said the changes would be thrown out.

“I think, at this point, I don’t think there’s enough consensus to move this thing forward,” he said. “We’ll have to live with what we have today.”
 

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Kristyne E. Demske at kdemske@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1041.