The El Dorado Planning and Zoning Commission agreed Tuesday to research zoning codes in other cities in an ongoing effort to clarify a city ordinance that restricts parking on front lawns on certain streets in El Dorado.
Mayor Frank Hash has asked commissioners and members of the El Dorado City Council to work together on the matter regarding city Ordinance 1773.
Several city officials, including City Attorney Henry Kinslow, council members Billy Blann and Mary McAdams, attended the commission meeting.
Ordinance 1773 prohibits the parking or storing of vehicles “on the grass in a yard between the residence and the street right of way” in designated areas on a prescribed list of main arterial and collector streets throughout the city.
Further, the ordinance states that vehicles, boats, boat trailers and camper shells are also prohibited “in the front yard of a lot, whether improved or unimproved, including the lawn area thereof, in residential areas on certain main artery streets, except upon that improved area which shall comprise the driveways.”
At issue is a clause that prohibits the paving or graveling of a yard “to the extent that such paving or graveling violates the (city’s) zoning ordinance.”
Hash and other city officials have pointed out that the city’s zoning code does not address such a parking issue, and on Tuesday, Kelly Halstead, chairman of the P&Z commission, reiterated the point.
Referring to the clause that mentions the zoning ordinance, Halstead said, “That last sentence, the zon-ing ordinance is silent on yards and driveways. I reviewed the ordinance several times, and I didn’t find anything.”
Commissioners made similar statements when the issue initially arose in early 2017 when Hash stopped a resident from building a horseshoe driveway in his front yard in the 1900 block of East Main, just east of Hudson.
The dust that swirled around the matter eventually settled, with the El Dorado City Council voting to reimburse the man $651 to cover cost of the concrete used to build the driveway and to allow him to proceed with the project.
At the time, Hash cited Ordinance 1773 to justify the stop-work order.
Since then, he has periodically revisited the issue, asking the council and P&Z commission to clarify the zoning ordinance so that it matches the parking ordinance, which was initiated and adopted by the city council in 2008.
“It was something that came up once. It was a specific issue,” Kinslow said, adding that commissioners’ input was sought to help identify clear violations and clear up “non-sensical” portions of the ordinance.
As 1773 is written, it does not provide the city code enforcement officer “the teeth” he needs to cite violators, McAdams said.
“I think it should cover the whole city because I’m sick and tired of five cars parked in a yard and they’re not running,” she said.
Commissioner Scott Ellen said “driveway” also needed to be defined in the ordinance.
“Can I put landscape timbers down and some sawdust and say that’s my driveway?” Ellen asked.
Added Kinslow, “Can I concrete my whole yard?”
Kinslow’s inquiry sparked another question from Ellen, who asked how violations are determined.
For example, Ellen noted that a house in the area of Main and College in which the entire front yard has been concreted and serves as parking space.
“I do see the value and practicality of starting on the main arteries and main streets and making people clean up as best they can,” he said.
Halstead told the group she has a circular driveway in her front yard, adding that such driveways are common throughout the city.
“You can’t say no parking in your yard, whether improved or unimproved, because that means I can’t park in my driveway,” she said.
McAdams said she would rather see concreted driveways than several vehicles, particularly those that are disabled, parked on the grass between the front of a house and the curb.
Halstead, noting that she and Commissioner Gavin Ballinger are corporate realtors for Murphy USA, said she regularly deals with zoning codes in 28 states.
“A lot of it depends on public safety, main arteries and beautification of the city,” Halstead said. “You have to find that balance between public concerns and allowing people to do what they want to do in their own yard.”
Halstead and Ballenger said they would review zoning codes from other cities to help amend the existing ordinance and tailor it for El Dorado.
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West Avenue and Hillsboro are the main arterial streets listed in the ordinance. Collector streets include:
• Timberlane.
• Bradley.
• College.
• South Newton.
• Marsh.
• South Washington.
• South Jackson.
• Madison.
• Martin Luther King.
• Smith/Calion Road.
• North Jefferson.
• Mosby.
• Thompson between Main and Grove.
• Oak between North West and Thompson.
• Main.
• Mount Holly.
• Faulkner.
• 19th.
• Parnell Road.
• 10th between North West and Calion Road.
• Ninth between Madison and Mosby.
• Grove between North West
and Jefferson and North West and College.
• Fifth between North West and Calion and North West and College.
• Eighth between North West and College.
• Griffith between North West and College.
Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or tlyons@ eldoradonews.com.