Definition of 'roadway' topic of Fayetteville council discussion

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Daniel Nelson, a former construction worker originally from Washington, sells bottles of water Thursday at the intersection of Joyce Boulevard and College Avenue in Fayetteville. Nelson, who has struggled with addiction and with drug users at job sites, supports his family by selling water to motorists at the intersection. Fayetteville's City Council is considering adopting an amendment to city code defining the term "roadway" as from far curb to far curb. The change aims to promote safety by preventing people from standing in the middle of a road.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Daniel Nelson, a former construction worker originally from Washington, sells bottles of water Thursday at the intersection of Joyce Boulevard and College Avenue in Fayetteville. Nelson, who has struggled with addiction and with drug users at job sites, supports his family by selling water to motorists at the intersection. Fayetteville's City Council is considering adopting an amendment to city code defining the term "roadway" as from far curb to far curb. The change aims to promote safety by preventing people from standing in the middle of a road.

FAYETTEVILLE -- City officials hope defining the term "roadway" will clarify a 2016 ordinance prohibiting standing or walking in the street.

No one is allowed to stand or walk in the street unless on a crosswalk or with a permit. The rule pertains to state and federal highways and major roads with speed limits of 35 mph and more.

Definition

“Roadway” will mean that part of the right of way between furthest curb or edge of the pavement on one side of the road to the furthest curb or edge of the pavement on the other side of the road and shall include any median between lanes of travel.

Source: City of Fayetteville

Web watch

To read the city’s existing ordinance on standing or walking in the street, go to:

bit.ly/faystreetordinance

Next meeting

What: Fayetteville City Council

When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Room 219, City Hall, 113 W. Mountain St.

City Attorney Kit Williams brought the ordinance to the City Council following a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision identifying panhandling as free speech. The ordinance deleted any mention of panhandling, begging or soliciting donations from city code.

Panhandlers in the city tend to stand at the side of the road or on medians to ask for donations. Police Chief Greg Tabor asked Williams to clarify what constitutes a "roadway."

The proposed definition designates a roadway as the farthest curb or edge of the road from one side to the other, including any medians. The council will take up the proposal for its second reading Tuesday.

"Any time you're using a term like that, if the police are unsure or if the citizens are unsure, then probably it ought to be defined so there won't be any mistakes," Williams said.

What the person is doing while standing or walking doesn't matter to the city, Williams said. The act is inherently dangerous to pedestrians and drivers, especially considering a person often has to cross several lanes of traffic to get to a median, he said. For example, the median at College Avenue and Joyce Boulevard sits in eight lanes of traffic.

Sometimes government looks at a dangerous situation and decides it shouldn't wait for an injury, Williams said.

"We require people to slow down dramatically around schools, and we do that whether or not a child has been hit next to a school," he said. "We don't say, 'Oh well, a kid hasn't been hit in the last five years so we'll just take away this 25 mph speed limit now.'"

Tabor told the council during the item's first reading March 6 that police received 41 calls last year about someone standing in a median, but he wasn't sure if any of those calls involved traffic accidents.

Separately, police received 137 calls about panhandling, Deputy Chief Mike Reynolds said. Many of those calls stemmed from people standing at the side of the road legally, but officers still have to respond, he said.

Repeated offenses for standing in a median could result in a fine of up to $500. However, officers will use discretion when enforcing the ordinance, Reynolds said. Police are aware of the Supreme Court decision on panhandling.

"We would indeed make contact with those individuals and show them where the place is on the side of the road and the right of way specifically," he said.

Holly Dickson with the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas said the proposed ordinance seems to allow for discretionary and arbitrary enforcement.

"Of course, if they only enforce this against panhandlers, then this is content-based enforcement and could subject the police chief and city to potential liability," she said. "There are numerous state laws that relate to traffic obstruction and hazards and the city is not prohibited from enforcing those laws if there is a true concern about safety."

Rob Qualls, representing civil rights advocacy committee For Fayetteville, said the group isn't opposed to the code changes but they alone aren't enough.

"We're not there yet," Qualls said. "Basically, the idea is instead of just throwing a law out there, throw in some systems that could help the underlying concern, which is people who are asking for help. Let's make sure they get help and not just a ticket."

The city is looking into starting a donation and assistance program that would put signs about how to help in place of where someone might stand on a median to ask for money, Chief of Staff Don Marr said. That effort won't require council approval, but examples of programs in other cities will be included in the council's packet of information.

"We addressed that for the council members who felt like it was targeting panhandling, because that's not the intention of it," he said. "The intention is safety."

NW News on 03/19/2018

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