WAUPUN — The Waupun City Council voted to approve changes to residential zoning ordinances to combat the ongoing issues with vehicles being parked in the front yards of residential properties.
The two primary reasons behind the ordinance are vehicles being left unmoved for large periods of time and damage to front yards, which harms neighborhood appeal and subsequently area property values.
The ordinance was passed at last week’s City Council Meeting held on July 25th, and makes changes to Section 16.03 of the Municipal Code.
At the previous meeting on July 11th, the City Council held a first reading period for the ordinances before voting on them at the next meeting.
In summary, the ordinance prevents automobiles from being parked on the front yard of residences in Waupun. Mayor Bishop noted that the ordinance was already unanimously approved by the Waupun Planning Commission and was ready to vote on the issue if there was no discussion to bring up.
However Alderman Pete Kazcmarski had some reservations for the new ordinances.
“I have concerns with this coming from an older section of town that has limited driveway use and width,” Kazcmarski said. “I would believe that more discretion should be used before we enact this as a potential solution for a problem that is primarily on the older side of the city.”
Mayor Bishop acknowledged that while it was common in older properties, the residences with these issues were primarily rental properties that were not owned by the residents parking on the lawns. He also noted that most of the cases the city was aware of were made through complaints of neighbors who were concerned about the appearance of their neighborhoods.
“It came out of a lot of last winter, if you remember West Main Street and Beaver Dam Street and all the front yards were mud and rust, and then the mud and rust came over the sidewalk and driveways,” Mayor Bishop said. “That isn’t fair to the homeowners that live next to the rental properties who try to keep their front lawns looking nice. And then people yell at me because they can’t put their boat in their driveway but their neighbor can have that tow truck thing sinking in the yard on their gravel driveway that hasn’t been cleaned off in decades.”
After some discussion Kaczmarski noted that the ordinance doesn’t have a time limit, meaning a car can’t be parked for even ten minutes.
City ordinances currently allow boats, campers, and trailers to be parked in the front of houses for up to 48 hours before they need to be moved. The Mayor noted that a similar plan was omitted from the new ordinance due to the possibility of being gamed by just moving the vehicle a few feet over, as is common with the current ordinance.
“The problem with the time restriction is you can park your vehicle here, and then in two days just put it over here, so that doesn’t really address the problem,” Mayor Bishop said.
The question of whether vehicles can be on the grass at all was brought up, and Alderman Jason Westphal pointed out that ordinances are rarely cited without warning.
“I can only assume that this ordinance would be just like the other ones where a person would have the opportunity to explain themselves and be given a warning to rectify the situation before a citation is issued immediately,” Westphal said. “If they drive by and see it, you would get a warning and you explain, ‘hey, all I was doing was washing my car.’ That’s a whole different story than driving by every single day and every single night and seeing something parked in somebody’s yard.”
Following this discussion, Alderman Westphal made a motion for the first reading of the ordinance, postponing the vote for the July 25th meeting. The City Council voted 5-1 to approve the ordinance, Kazcmarski dissenting.
The full language of the ordinance can be found below.
“There shall be no parking permitted from the front plane of the house to the front property line, except on driveways designed for motor vehicles, not defined as a recreational vehicle. Any person desiring to create a parking area in the front plane shall complete a Conditional Use Permit application. The application shall designate an area no greater than ten feet wide abutting an existing drive. The addition shall be a hard surface area (asphalt, concrete or gravel), tapered to the property line with a minimum sixty degree angle. The drive area and such parking shall not intrude into a required vision triangle.”
In plain English, automobiles cannot be parked on land not designated as a driveway, i.e. front lawns. Driveways must be made with a hard surface intended for vehicle use such as asphalt, concrete, or gravel.
Homeowners wishing to expand their driveways must apply for a Conditional Use Permit. New additions to driveways can be a maximum of 10 feet from the primary driveway, with a minimum sixty degree angle from the existing driveway curb.
New driveways and parking locations also cannot block vision from the road in vision triangles.
The changes will apply to Section 16.03 of the Municipal Code, parts 1 through 4.
The Council also unanimously approved an ordinance to establish additional stop signs in the neighborhood between Edgewood Drive and W Hawthorne Drive due to a number of complaints regarding the previously uncontrolled intersections.
A stop sign was also approved for the new intersection of Bayberry Lane and Shaler Drive, across from Heritage Ridge Travel Plaza Truck Stop on the south side of town.
