So, the Mayor was out of town for the last meeting and I was fortunate enough to wield the gavel. I run a mean business meeting brothers. We're either votin' or adjourning….enough talking! 
In all seriousness, we had very little on the agenda and had to adjourn for a bit before citizens time. During citizens time a nice lady who lives near Point of Woods came to address the council. She indicated that she was 1 block from POW and had tremendous problems with folks from that area parking in their development. Not just 1 or 2 cars either. This isn't the first I've heard of this: there are so many individuals living in POW that the built-in parking isn't anywhere near sufficient to handle the number of cars. If you drive down Liberia or Stonewall road the cars are just nose to tail the whole way. I've had folks that live in the single family houses along that road tell me they can't park in their driveways as they can't see to get out of them. I'm very surprised there haven't been more accidents although I believe in the last year 2 people have been run over on Liberia….
I don't want to single POW out as the problem is present in other parts of the city as well. Most of our townhouse developments were built with a parking ratio of somewhere around 1.8–2.0 cars per unit. Based on what I see that's pretty much out the window. And it's not limited to townhouses and/or apartments! I've gotten complaints that some single-family houses are overcrowded and in order to conceal it, renters park in adjoining commercial developments and walk back to the house! This was the case over on Oakenshaw a couple of months ago.
The real question is what to do about all of this. It's pretty clear it's getting to the point where it's in the public interest to do something but I'm not sure what, if anything, to do. I also worry about public safety. I was over at Sumner Lake when the big fire happened and if we had a similar event in any of these areas, it looks, to my amatuer eye, like it would be difficult to get the trucks where they need to be.
I suppose we could "no-park" large swaths of through roads like Liberia in an effort to keep it clear but that is pretty drastic. It also won't work unless parking districts are created in adjoining developments to control overflow parking. All valid ideas and might be appropriate to explore. Somewhere, someone else has already fried this fish: we just need to do some homework.
However, what I really struggle with is this: what is fair? Certainly parking ratios of 1.8 set certain expectations in terms of number of cars, residents and numbers of kids in schools. We would appear to above those but is it fair to those residents living in those townhouses to take action of this sort? They're taxpayers too. On the other hand, is it fair to the taxpayers that live in other parts of the city to not take action? Isn't it incumbent upon the developments to address their parking issues? Certainly the streets are public but does that mean they're available to accomodate the problems of individuals? This level of utilization is having a demonstrable negative effect on the city and the Council must consider th health of the City as a whole….right?
September 20, 2012 at 8:30 am
"…Council must consider the health of the City as a whole…right?" Right. You know my view on Council Authority & Responsibility expressed so many times on this blog (most recent the August 17th CIP posting) and before Council at Citizen's TIme. This is a Public Safety issue: traffic flow, accessibility, walkability, and safety of children in particular who are playing near the roads and run out…or not playing and run out to cross the street.
All that said, "taxpayers" – well, hope in your cruisng you see all the Maryland license plates. They have returned a-plenty to the fair City. And the whole concept of getting rid of the City decal and using the tax & vehicle database is not working. Try reporting to the City a vehicle with Maryland license plates, parked on your street for more than 30 days – repeat, more than 30 days – and zip-nada-nothing happens. So much for enforcing State and City Code requirements that after 30 days, get a Virginia Plate.
Restore the decal in my mind is the first step. Let's get all these "taxpayers" accounted for. Enforce the 30 day rule even when posted to the City's online "How can we help you" form. Then once all the noses are counted, and some semblance of control is reestablished in terms of authorized vehicles, then begin looking at control of parking. And in that control of parking, since many of the areas where there are issues are also HOAs, get them involved.
September 23, 2012 at 7:50 am
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/314429
An interesting article from today's Roanoke newspaper.
"The effort it takes to be a serviceable fire or rescue volunteer
is unmatched …".
September 23, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Overcrowding pure and simple but finding a solution is far from simple. I lived in POW from 1989 to 1994 but I do not remember if there was assigned parking for each townhouse and how many spaces were assigned to each unit. I believe that most HOAs have parking assignments but unfortunately even if they only allotted two spaces per unit with some type of parking sticker, the spillover would go further into other neighborhoods that the HOA does not have any jurisdiction over. The overcrowding in the City affects all of the City infrastructure such as schools, social services, etc. The City zoning is set up that only a certain number of people will live in an R1, R2, R3, etc. zoned neighborhood. That is not the case however currently in many neighborhoods in our City. One day coming up Liberia Avenue I stopped for a school bus letting children off at the intersection of Stonewall Road and Liberia Avenue at the POW townhouses. I believe almost the entire bus load of children emptied out at that one stop.
September 24, 2012 at 8:47 am
I also agree with Ray that the City should bring back the decal. This would make it much easier to identify cars that are truly registered in the City of Manassas. The City police already set up checkpoints to check on inspection stickers and state tags. Stickers would enable them to also identify cars that are not current with their personal property taxes. When I lived in Rollingwood, the association would invite the City police onto the property to ticket cars that were not current in their tags, inspections or decals. I cannot imagine that the decals costs that much that the City could not start them up again. City Council should give consideration to this.
September 24, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Not sure how we fix the obvious, “single family” homes with far more than single families living in them. Townhouse subdivisions have it the worst regarding this particular issue due to their limited parking spaces. Look at any townhouse subdivision in our City, it’s present in every one of them, whether it is GTS, POW, Ashton Glen, etc. I guess the good news is that none of ours are yet as bad as Irongate out in PWC. Want to see crazy, drive up Barnett Drive any evening….
September 24, 2012 at 6:19 pm
Ah, but DavidB there is one place that doesn't have this problem: the TH development over on signal hill. The streets aren't striped for parking…..
September 24, 2012 at 7:26 pm
This has nothing to do with the blog topic but I am looking for a Romney sign to put in my front yard. Is there a Republican campaign office in the City of Manassas?
September 24, 2012 at 11:49 pm
I still ponder why, oh why, Snow Emergency Routes were ever stripped in the first place. And since SNRs double as major routes in terms of Emergency Plans, double the pondering why oh why in the first place.
September 25, 2012 at 8:12 am
"This has nothing to do with the blog topic but I am looking for a Romney sign to put in my front yard. Is there a Republican campaign office in the City of Manassas?"
Mary Ann,
The MGOP HQ is located at the corner of Grant Ave and Center Street. Currently, there are signs available. There has been a shortage of signs of late, but the local committee has begun purchasing signs, rather than wait for the supply issues to be recitified. If you go by today, you should be able to get one.
September 25, 2012 at 10:14 am
Thanks Steve.
September 25, 2012 at 10:15 am
I am hoping that the shortage of signs is from demand. That would be a good "sign"!!!
September 25, 2012 at 1:51 pm
One thing I'd like to see the city enforce a bit more strongly; parking commercial vehicles in residential areas. I've seen semi-tractors, flat-bed wreckers, panel trucks, etc. parked in more than just my neighborhood. I ride/drive by them daily. Balancing the taxpayers needs to park close to where they live, with the interests of the greater community at large is a debate worth having. However, parking a dump truck on residential street, night after night is illegal. period.
September 26, 2012 at 10:39 am
Steve, you raise a great point, and it ties in with the overall issue around Parking Enforcement. Normally during daylight hours, a call to MCPD Parking Enformcement will get an officer out to the neighborhood to check and if not allowed by City Code, then a ticket is issued. Even if you get the answering machine when you call, the officers do check that while on patrol and respond.
The issue is at nights and weekends. Parking complaints are lower on priority for an officer to respond to as they should be. But it is always at night and on weekends when the violations are occuring. What is needed is a bit more emphasis that when officers are on patrol and they see the vehicles, stop and write. I know the night shift does it on occasion, such as two months ago here in my cul-de-sac.
There are 9 houses in my loop, and with the number of cars per house, some of us park our cars straight-in on the circle. Six of us came out one morning to find a ticket on the windshield for improper parking by City Code (I was one of them). The Code stipulates that when parking against the curb, the RIGHT tire must be no more than six inches away from the curb – something I learned when I came in to look up the reason I was cited. I measured, and the center of tire was beyond the limit.
Now, if an officer can stop at 3 a.m. to do that while on patrol, logic says observing a commercial vehicle is easier to see. All that said, I also know if you call the Community Team at MCPD for your area and request a night time check of the neighborhood, they will do it.
Still, have to find some balance as to how weekend and night time enforcement is occuring without always just relying on one individual in a neighborhood to file a complaint.