In Duluth, Minnesota, a decision to enforce laws prohibiting residents from parking in their front yards has been put on hold. At duluthnewstribune.com it has been reported that enforcement will be delayed until next year to give the city time to inform residents of the regulations and to give homeowners and renters time to address their parking needs.
According to the article, many, but not all, of the front-yard parkers are college students who rent and were not aware of their parking options when they signed leases. Compliance will be expected by June 1, 2017. The new deadline coincides with nearby universities summer break and the end of most student leases.
Keith Hamre, Duluth’s director of planning and construction services, said both drivers and landlords need to be held to account.
“What we wanted to do is impress upon the landlords that they’re responsible for the operation of a business. They’re responsible to meet their customers’ needs. So that’s where we stepped up this year and said: This isn’t just tenants and this isn’t just homeowners, because we also issued warning tickets to homeowners who were parking in their front yards too, which is against the city code,” he said.
I’m going to go out on a limb and congratulate Duluth officials on a great plan to disallow yard parking and for a taking sensible approach to enforcement. I don’t care if people think I’m a snob, but whether the grimy impression created by a lawn stacked with cars is real or imagined, it’s widely acknowledged. Nothing says “I don’t care about my house or me neighborhood” like a front yard full of vehicles – in any state of repair. There’s a hoarder house on my street and it looks really bad, so that’s a close second, but cars in the yard is the kind of eyesore that affects home values.
I’m a little conflicted because I support the rights of property ownership, but because I don’t and wouldn’t park on my lawn, I don’t feel much like my rights are in danger.
Read the article here.
