Passing a parking ordinance that applies to no one

Last night the city council took the first step — not the final step as last night’s agenda stipulated, but only the first step — toward regulating parking in residential areas of Kyle that will apply absolutely nowhere within the city. That is, unless a specific subdivision, neighborhood, block wanted it to apply. As I see it, the only decision left to be made is whether it will be international rules that don’t apply or local ones.

Confused yet?

Here’s the kicker: Moments before the council was called to order, assistant city manager James Earp distributed an amended version of the ordinance. Section 47.26 (b) of the original version read: "It is unlawful for a person to stop, park or leave standing any vehicle, whether attended or unattended, upon the main-traveled part of a street, in a manner or under any condition which leaves unavailable less than 20 feet of width of the street for the free movement of vehicles, except in emergency situations."

That section raised the ire of those living on comparatively narrow streets in Old Town Kyle as well as the administrators of the Katharine Anne Porter House and adjoining Literary Center that is a the host for presentations from guest authors on a regular basis. Many of those attending these events park in such a manner as to violate Section 47.26 (b).

The amended version added only five words and two figures to that section, but it completely altered its meaning. The addition, which comes at the beginning of the section, read: "For subdivisions platted after January 1, 2017." Take a wild guess as to how many Kyle residents live in a subdivision platted after the first of the year. Not actually developed or built, but merely platted.

Then the amended version added a paragraph [c] to apply to those residential areas that actually do exist, where people really do live. For those areas, that new paragraph contains exactly the same wording except the number 20 in the paragraph that applies to no one is replaced by the number 14 in the paragraph that applies to everyone.

But there’s still another kicker. The new version added a paragraph (d) that reads: "Subdivisions platted prior to January 1, 2017 (all the subdivisions that currently exist in Kyle) may opt in to having the requirements of paragraph (b) enforced by submitting to the City a petition of 51 percent of the affected property owners requesting enforcement." In other words if the majority of residents living in a subdivision, or even on one block of one street in one subdivision so desire, they can petition the city to designate one or both sides of the streets in that subdivision or any part thereof as no-parking zones. Once the petition goes to the city it would have to be approved by an ordinance passed by the city council during a regular agenda meeting in order to go into effect.

There is still one more kicker. Before the council took any action on the dang proposal the decision was made to delete completely paragraphs (b) [c] and (d) of the Section 47.26, thus rendering everything I described above moot, at least for the time being. So now that the entire section of the parking ordinance pertaining to restricted parking on streets by non-commercial vehicles reads: "It is unlawful for a person to leave, stand of park a large motor vehicle (defined as one longer than 22 feet and/or taller than seven feet), travel trailer, personal watercraft or boat, either attached or unattached to a motor vehicle, on a public street in any zoning district in excess of 24 hours."

That version of the ordinance passed 6-1 with council member Daphne Tenorio casting the lone dissenting vote.

That’s not to say some version of paragraphs (b) [c] and (d) won’t be re-inserted between now and when the ordinance returns for a second and final reading presumably in two weeks. The only question is what numbers will appear in those paragraphs. It could be the aforementioned 20 and 14 figures or it could be, as argued by some council members, the numbers specified in the International Fire Code, which the council recently formally adopted. The way I read Section D103 of this code, the minimum width of any street containing a hire hydrant must be 26 feet and one side of any street that is narrower than that must be reserved as a fire lane with parking not permitted on that side of the street.

So that’s generally where things stand at the present. And, yes, last night’s agenda labeled this item as the second reading of this ordinance, but, after consulting with the city attorney, it was agreed that when an ordinance passed on first reading is completely abandoned and replaced by an entirely new version, that new version can’t be passed as the second reading of the original.

If you’re not totally lost now, congratulations!

In other action last night:

• The council voted 6-1 to rename parts of Goforth Road to Philomena Drive and Bunton Creek. Tenorio voted no on historical grounds, but that historical alignment of Goforth was logical only when it was the only road in the area. It makes no sense when it results in the names of so many of Kyle’s streets mysteriously changing for no obvious reason. Mayor Todd Webster and council member David Wilson took turns saluting the Kyle Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Community Development Department for their work in getting the businesses located along the affected roadways to be informed and supportive of the change. The road-name changes will take effect on or about Oct. 17.
• In the evening’s one roll-call vote, the council voted 4-3 (Tenorio, Mayor Pro Tem Damon Fogley and Shane Arabie dissenting) to approve a request to drastically slash the number of parking spaces that would normally be required for a project developed on a parcel zoned for warehouse. The project in question is a storage facility along southbound I-35 and the three dissenters argued that granting the variance was a signal from the council that it approved of storage facilities on the interstate when members have previously voiced reservations about them. This item was also the only one of the items that were considered individually that was not decided by the embarrassingly routine 6-1 vote, with the exception of one to rezone the old speedway land from entertainment to warehouse which was approved 6-0 when Tenorio momentarily left the dais.
• The council voted to postpone consideration of an item on the Consent Agenda to grant a franchise to Pedernales Electric Cooperative because the contract accompanying the agenda item was actually the expiring contract, not the new one, which calls for the city to charge PEC more than twice the franchise fee of the earlier one. That was the only agenda item that was not approved in one form or another.
• Following an executive session, the council approved the city enter into negotiations to purchase 1.2 acres of land located on the north side of the library and land at O Burleson Road, which can't be found on Google Maps but which Mayor Pro Tem Fogley told me after the meeting is the designated address of St. Anthony's Catholic Church.