ROCKDALE, Texas — The City of Rockdale's Planning and Zoning Commission decided to revise a new parking ordinance in a workshop Tuesday afternoon before enforcement starts in September.
- The ordinance requires residents to park cars in a driveway made of improved materials like asphalt and concrete, instead of their front and side lawns.
- Enforcement would have started in September, charging residents in violation $500 per vehicle per day.
- But the city found over 1,300 violations, forcing them to consider revising the ordinance at a future workshop.
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"I really don't understand that either because you pay taxes for your place. Your grass is yours, too. Why does that bother somebody?" Chris Miles, a Rockdale resident, said.
Outrage.
"You can't put rock down, which I have halfway in my driveway where I park at, and I want to do the rest of it, but then, I found out about this ordinance," Vicent Garza, another resident, said to members of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission .
And confusion.
That sums up how some residents are feeling about a new parking ordinance.
It requires neighbors to park on driveways made of materials like asphalt and concrete.
"It degrades property values," City Manager Tim Kelty said. "We want the city to look great in inviting to people that want to come here and that want to invest in the city."
And stop them from parking on their front and side lawns.
"We worrying about this little stuff. We have so much other stuff to worry about. Why are we worrying about cars and where they park at?," Miles said.
The city was going to start enforcing the ordinance next month, but they found more than 1,300 vehicles in violation.
"It's been on the books a year, and so now it's in the enforceable stage," Doug Williams, chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission, said.
Now, they're planning to amend it —
"So instead of enforcing the entire thing all at once, you know, maybe break it out and break it down so that portions of the ordinance were enforced over time until we eventually got to full compliance," Kelty said.
To possibly allow residents to park on other materials.
"If the only three things that you can use to improve your parking is asphalt, concrete, or pavers, you know that, y'all failed the people of Rockdale," Garza said.
