Independence performed a fresh first reading of revisions to its parking regulations this week.
The new first reading follows discussions from last month in which the council made several revisions to a previous ordinance that had already gone through a first reading. The city’s legal department recommended a new first reading after the changes.
Conversations about parking regulations began in November after a city resident, Dan Burgey, brought his concerns to the city council. 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.
He told the city council in November that he’d observed issues on city-owned streets in his neighborhood, which he argued met the city’s legal definition of a nuisance and that the HOA has no jurisdiction over.
Specifically, Burgey was concerned about abandoned vehicles or vehicles parked on public streets for extended periods. The Council deferred to the Police Department to clean up its ordinance in January, and the new ordinance, which contains numerous revisions, new language and definitions and enforcement mechanisms, reflects the concern about excessive parking times and abandoned vehicles.
City attorney Jack Gatlin previously stated the ordinance was “probably one of the most robust parking ordinances that I have seen in Northern Kentucky.”
The changes in Monday’s version of the ordinance included clarifications about parking on roundabouts (you can’t do it), stipulations on camera evidence for reporting violations and the correction of several clerical inconsistencies.
You can read the full proposed ordinance below. Parts of the old regulations that will be deleted are set off with strikethroughs. New additions are underlined. The council will perform a final vote on the new regulations at their meeting on Aug. 3.