The sign leading into the Manor Hill subdivision in Independence. Photo provided | Google Maps

What you need to know

Following the testimony of an Independence resident Monday night, Independence City Council agreed to work with police to consider enforcement of parking issues throughout the city.

Dan Burgey speaks at the meeting on Nov. 3, 2025. Photo by Nathan Granger | LINK nky

The resident, Dan Burgey, is a volunteer with the Independence Citizens’ Police Academy alumni association and a member of the homeowners association maintenance committee in Independence’s Manor Hill neighborhood.

His address was based on issues he’d observed on city-owned streets in his neighborhood, which he argued met the city’s legal definition of a nuisance and which the HOA has no jurisdiction over.

“Parking regulations are written for a reason and should be enforced,” Burgey said near the conclusion of his statement. “What good does it do to call in a complaint if it’s not enforced. So with that, we hope [the] council will seriously consider a solution for the benefit of safety of our Manor Hill residents and visitors.”

In both his statement and a written letter he submitted to the city council, Burgey pointed to several examples of issues he believed were illustrative of the phenomenon:

  • The ongoing parking of a 1950s Chevrolet, which has not moved in spite of repeated complaints and police responses, according to Burgey’s letter. Burgey later said the owner was essentially using the street as a long-term storage lot, as evidenced by the owner covering the car during the colder months.
  • The alleged parking of a trailer on Burbridge Trail for more than a month, which Durgey argued was not only a nuisance but also dangerous, given its proximity to the intersection, which he argued created a blind spot near where kids ride their bikes.
  • Excessive parking near the entrance of the subdivision, turning from Marshall Road onto Windermere Hill, for which the city has already posted a sign saying “No parking from here to corner.”

Specifically, Burgey asked the council to amend the part of the city’s parking ordinance that states “it shall be unlawful for anyone to park in any one place any vehicle on any of the public ways or streets of the city for a period of seventy-two (72) hours or longer” by striking the “in any one place” phrasing, which he believed was too difficult to enforce.

“This has been a challenging issue that we’ve dealt with over the years,” said Mayor Chris Reinersman, adding that the primary intent of the city’s regulations was to keep abandoned vehicles off of residential streets. City Attorney Jack Gatlin affirmed this rationale later in the meeting. The city amended its ordinance for storing trailers earlier this year, in fact, giving credence to the mayor’s comments.

Reinersman qualified his statement by saying, “the challenge, of course, is there is an expectation of parking on the streets. You’ve got a lot of families that maybe have a couple of teenagers or whatever, and don’t have sufficient driveway parking.”

The council and Police Chief Brian Ferayorni then engaged in a discussion about enforcement mechanisms and the amount of resources the police should devote to parking versus other issues.

“When it comes to parking, we’re very reactive versus proactive,” said Police Chief Brian Ferayorni. “We [are] proactive [for] criminal things. We don’t go out looking for parking complaints.”

“I don’t know how we can tell somebody they can’t park on the street,” said Council Member Carol Franzen, echoing Reinersman’s caveat.

Gatlin, however, said something like the owner covering their Chevy in the winter, for instance, “would violate the spirit of the current ordinance,” even if the owner moved the car every now and again so as not to run afoul of the 72-hour rule.

“The majority of the cars park, people leave in the morning, they come back at night, and there’s really no major issue,” Burgey said. “It’s a few that’s abusing or taking advantage of what’s going on, and the camper was a huge problem.”

Reinersman believed that enforcing the current ordinance more effectively was a better course of action than amending the law, although he was open to continuing the discussions at some point in the future.

“What I would suggest [to] the council is for the time being get with the chief and sit down and talk about what can we do to focus on enforcement on our existing ordinance,” Reinersman said.

Burgey seemed amenable to this, and no legislative action on the matter took place at the meeting.