City Council may put pinch on parking

City of Watertown residents with little room to park may feel more of a pinch if the City Council adopts a zoning ordinance next week prohibiting cars from being parked on side yards abutting city streets.

The ordinance, if approved, will prohibit open-air parking on the side yard facing a public street, and the rear yard within 20 feet of a public street within residential, limited business and health services zoning districts.

Parking already is banned in those districts in the front yard of properties, except for hospitals and nursing homes.

The front yard is determined largely by the home's address, said Kenneth A. Mix, city planning and community development coordinator.

Mr. Mix said the request to revamp the parking rules came from the city Planning Board following a request earlier this month from an owner of a multi-family dwelling who wanted to pave a side yard to create additional parking.

The board rejected the request at the Aug. 5 meeting and asked that the ordinance be drawn up.

A public hearing has been set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 245 Washington St., concerning the proposal. The City Council is expected to act following the hearing.

Mr. Mix said he has received a memo from the code enforcement office stating that the ordinance likely will affect more residents than originally anticipated.

The Jefferson County Planning Board seems to think so too.

"I worked for the city for years and it's going to impact a lot of folks, especially when they try to get off the street when it snows," said member John Doolittle, after hearing a summary of the proposal from community development coordinator Jennifer L. Voss.

Planning Board member Clif Schneider asked if the city had conducted a survey to determine the effects such a zoning ordinance would have.

Board chairwoman Elizabeth R. Lanpher said she was concerned about how the city would manage the ordinance.

"I wonder how much it's going to be enforced," she said. "If the city's going to enforce it, they're going to be busy."

County Planning Board members referred the plan back to the city Planning Board with a recommendation the city look into how the ordinance would affect uses other than single-family dwellings.

Parking has been a contentious issue for the City Council in recent years and discussion about front yard parking in 2001 caused a public brouhaha.

The city bans open-air parking on any section of residential property that is in front of a home. But some residents have complained the ban leaves them without parking once winter on-street parking regulations take effect Nov. 1.

Residents are allowed to park their cars in driveways that are next to a house and extend beyond a home's front.

Time staff writer Rachael Hanley contributed to this report.