FAYETTEVILLE -- A proposal by Alderman Alan Long would make it illegal to park in front of someone's mailbox.
Long said he's received multiple complaints about the issue in recent weeks. One complaint came from Sarah Harrell, president of the Crystal Springs Neighborhood Association in northwest Fayetteville.
Council agenda
Fayetteville’s City Council is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Also on the agenda:
• A proposal to end term limits for resident boards and committees.
• A memorandum with the University of Arkansas to place a university-owned natural gas line within city right-of-way.
• Authorize buying new uniforms for the Fire Department from Cruse Uniforms and Equipment of Springdale.
Source: Staff Report
Harrell asked Long if there was a law prohibiting people from parking in front of mailboxes. If so, she wanted to show the law to a neighbor to get him to move his car.
After researching the issue, Police Chief Greg Tabor and City Attorney Kit Williams discovered there wasn't anything on the books.
"For 30 years, I have thought it was illegal!" Tabor said in an email to Long.
State and federal law doesn't prohibit people from blocking mailboxes either, Leisa Tolliver-Gay, Arkansas spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, said Tuesday.
"However, we always encourage our customers to keep the area around their mailboxes clear -- clear of trash cans; if there's inclement weather, clear of ice and snow; and clear of vehicles," Tolliver-Gay added. "If it's a one-time deal, (the mail carrier) will deliver the mail, but if it's an ongoing situation, they'll contact the customer."
Harrell said, in her neighborhood, the mail carrier doesn't stop if a mailbox is blocked.
"Of course that's the day (the person) really needs something," she explained.
She acknowledged her complaint is a "first-world problem."
"Most people being neighborly, if it happened once, wouldn't think too much about it," Harrell said. "I think this would be geared more toward those who have neighbors who consistently park and block (the mailbox). This gives them a legal route out of it."
For Carol Widder, who lives on Holly Street, north of Wilson Park, Long's proposal could provide a tool for better enforcing the city's occupancy limit.
City Code prohibits more than three unrelated people from living under one roof in single-family neighborhoods. But it can be difficult for code compliance officers to prove how many people are living together.
Widder, who is surrounded on three sides by homes rented to University of Arkansas students, said the students park on both sides of Holly, which doesn't have curbs or sidewalks. That can make it difficult for Widder and her husband to back out of the driveway, let alone check their mail.
She called Long's proposal "a really good first step, as long as it's something technical, something that's concrete, that you can call the police and they can come ticket them."
"If there's not enough spaces on the street to park, it's going to make it hard on people to over-occupy," she added.
If approved, Long's proposal would prohibit people from parking "in front of and blocking a mailbox" on a city street between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It wouldn't apply to days when the postal service doesn't deliver mail, such as Sunday or federal holidays.
Violators would face fines of $70, according to City Code -- the same fine that can be levied on people who park on a sidewalk, in front of a fire hydrant or within 30 feet of a stop sign.
Ward 3 Alderman Justin Tennant suggested Tuesday that Long's proposal only be enforced when people complain -- rather than have police officers actively patrolling for blocked mailboxes.
"My fear is we're changing an entire citywide process for a very few people," Tennant said.
Williams, the city attorney who helped Long draft his proposal, said in an April 9 memo, "that police normally have much more important criminal activity to prevent and so do not cruise Fayetteville looking for parking violations.
"However, if an officer sees a car parked blocking a public driveway, within a street intersection or blocking a fire hydrant, I would bet a parking ticket is likely. ... Since blocking a mailbox is much less of a safety concern, I would guess a parking ticket would usually only follow a citizen complaint because of disrupted mail delivery."
But Williams also acknowledged the new law could pose problems.
"There are some streets, obviously, that have a lot of driveways and a lot of mailboxes," he said at the City Council's March 31 meeting. "So we could be limiting parking severely between 8 (a.m.) and 5 (p.m.)."
Williams suggested the issue be further examined by the City Council's Ordinance Review Committee before any final action is taken.
The proposal will be up for its second reading at next week's council meeting.
NW News on 04/15/2015