Memo to students: “Quit parking your cars in our hood”

Tuesday’s City Council meeting seems, just by glimpsing the agenda, to be pretty routine. The most fascinating item on the menu is a proposed amendment of the city’s parking ordinances that on the surface appears to prevent Lehman High School students from parking their cars on nearby residential streets during school hours.

Specifically, the change would require any automobile parked on Brutus Drive, Onion Cove and Casper Cove, located across Lehman Road from the school’s campus, as well as all vehicles parked on Lake Washington Drive, between Goforth and Town Lake Bend, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Aug. 1 to June 1 (except between Dec. 24 to Jan. 2) to have a parking permit displayed on its windshield.

Anyone occupying any commercial enterprise or single family home on any of the above mentioned four streets may obtain from the chief of police "or his designee" two parking permits and up to two visitor parking permits. The applications for these permits "shall be made on a form prepared by the City and shall include the name of the owner or operator of the vehicle, his or her address, the license number of the vehicle, and the owner’s driver’s license number," according to the wording of the new ordinance.

Parking permits will be free, but the City plans to charge $5 for each visitor permit. Permits must be renewed annually and are valid from Aug. 1 to June 1. That means, if someone moves into a home on, say, Onion Drive next March 23, he or she can apply for a parking permit, but it will expire in 70 days.

In addition, one of these parking permits will be "valid only for its designated area," which I assume means a permit allowing someone to park on Washington Drive won’t apply for parking on Onion Cove and vice versa. However, the way I read the proposed ordinance amendment, a single permit covers Brutus Drive, Onion Cove and Casper Cove.

What’s missing from the proposed ordinance change is any mention of penalties involved for parking in one of these areas without a permit. All it says is (1) it’s unlawful for any car without a permit to park in these areas during the specified times and dates and (2) "This ordinance may be enforced by commissioned peace officers employed by the City of Kyle, and civilian enforcement employees, including code enforcement officers." I’m guessing anyone allowed to enforce the ordinance could arrange to have a non-permitted car towed.

There is no public hearing accompanying this item so any citizen who desires to speak on the subject must do so during the Citizens Comments period.

Other items on Tuesday’s agenda include:

• An agreement among the City, Hays County and the developers of the 763-acre "master-planned mixed use community" known as Pecan Woods, the details of which will be of interest primarily to policy and land-use wonks, but is necessary because it appears that only 40 acres of the development are actually within Kyle’s city limits and the rest of the property is located in the city’s ETJ. Here’s something I found fascinating, however. According to the wording of the agreement "it is contemplated that portions of the property currently within the ETJ of the city and portions of the annexed property currently within the corporate limits of the city will fluctuate throughout the term of this agreement (e.g. some of the currently annexed property may be de-annexed and thereafter covered by this agreement and some of the property currently in the ETJ may be annexed.)" Go figure.
• Three public hearings are scheduled, but the corresponding items for two of them — proposed changes in the city’s sign ordinances and a proposed zoning change for property off West FM 150 and Old Stagecoach Road — have been delayed by the Planning & Zoning Commission. The third is attached to another proposed zoning change that would allow a volleyball court and beer garden (and possibly other retail services) on close to four acres located on Windy Hill Road between an auto junk yard and the Amberwood subdivision, right behind the La Quinta on I-35.
• A move to suspend for up to 45 days a rate hike proposed by natural gas distributor Centerpoint Energy because "additional time and information is needed for (the city council) to study the proposed rate adjustment and tariffs and the reasons therefore," and because the council "has determined that it is in the best interest of its citizens and ratepayers to suspend the proposed rate adjustment." The City said "The proposed interim rate adjustment would raise rates by $2.04 for residential, and $4.13 for small commercial, and $25.06 for large commercial."
• Proposed changes to make the city’s stormwater regulations stronger, including the ability to more stringently prevent trash and construction waste from leaving construction sites; to give the City the power to assess "monetary, civil or criminal penalties" for violations of the ordinance; and to allow the City to "withhold a temporary or final certificate of occupancy, or fiscal security until the City has conducted a final stormwater inspection and given approval."
• The donation by the Kyle Police Department of a light bar, a siren and a siren speaker to the Kyle Fire Department, which will install the items on a truck used "in swift-water circumstances," according to a letter from Fire Chief Kyle Taylor, who went on to write "This truck will be an asset to have in the city during bad weather situations." The Police Department purchased the items in 2008 and removed them from police vehicles last year. Police Chief Jeff Barnett told city officials "The Police Department has no current or future anticipated use of this equipment," which he valued at $300 or less.