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Salem panel: Allow parking on front driveways

SALEM — A council committee is recommending parking be allowed in an existing, original residential driveway in a front yard, with or without an existing garage, citywide.

The Rules & Ordinances Committee voted last week to add the clause as an exception to 361.16, the city ordinance which prohibits front yard parking.

Now the issue will be presented to city council for a decision.

Councilwoman Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, who chairs the committee, said the issue came up after someone complained about a building project on Southeast Boulevard. When the zoning officer checked the residence, he found that the homeowner was enclosing the garage to create additional living space in the house and never got a permit.

The zoning officer told him he would no longer be permitted to park on what had been his driveway because the city ordinance doesn’t allow front yard parking except in the case of a driveway leading to a front-facing garage or in the back.

Dickey further explained that no parking is allowed in front of a living space, per city law. Originally, she wanted to have the exception also note in cases where there’s no street parking, but took that part out. There are 41 streets in Salem where no parking is allowed.

Committee members had discussed this issue last week and took some time to drive around to see where this parking rule may cause an issue. They all saw illegal parking and violations throughout the city, with parking spots established that did not lead to garages.

Another committee member, Councilman Jake Gano, suggested bringing in an outside company to look at all of the city’s zoning and bring it into the 21st century, considering most of the current zoning law dates back to 1973. The section that prohibits residential front yard parking was actually passed on March 16, 2016.

Gano said rather than patchwork it, maybe it’s time to overhaul it. He also suggested not doing anything now and not enforcing the parking rule while they work with a consultant since it’s not really being enforced now.

Dickey said she’s leery of that. As council members, they all took an oath to uphold the laws.

“How can we say look the other way? To just avoid to fix it to the best of our abilities is kind of a copout,” she said.

The city needs income from the income tax and the school needs income from property taxes. She said her goal is to encourage families to stay in the city.

“I think we’re in danger of losing families if we don’t make this a livable place,” she said.

Councilman Steve Faber, who’s not on the committee but attended the meeting, said he disagreed with the idea that a driveway no longer exists when it’s already there. He also objected to the section about making it dependent on having no street parking. He said even if someone turns their garage into a family room or bedroom, the driveway is still there.

He questioned the city saying “you can’t use what you already have.”

Councilman Andrew Null, another committee member, questioned if the size of a parking space is limited, noting that people are making side pullouts and asked how they stop a front yard from becoming all cement. Dickey pointed out that the exception is only for existing, original driveways already in place, not new driveways.

Null agreed with Gano about having an outside firm look at the zoning to see what should be updated, but Dickey said her problem with that would be the possible cost. She said they could do an exception now to take care of the current issue, noting the homeowner saw other properties where the same thing had been done, plus he trusted his contractor. Gano said ignorance of the law is not an excuse, but he understands how an honest mistake could be made. He said they need to be careful in how they do this, noting that even people who have street parking available have illegally created their own parking spots in yards.

Faber noted that a yard is a yard and a driveway is hard surface. He didn’t see how the city could penalize someone for not having a garage. Councilman Ron Zellers asked about circular driveways, saying that’s in front of the living space. Dickey said that’s permitted on larger lots.

Councilman Dennis Plegge reminded his fellow councilmen to remember the city sometimes has snow emergency parking bans. What do those families do then?

The committee agreed to the exception, but also agreed to check on options for an outside firm to look at the zoning and see if council contingency funds could be used for that.

mgreier@salemnews.net

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