Prairie Grove City Council approved an ordinance at its Sept. 15 meeting to amend provisions for parking of vehicles in the city limits.
The four-page ordinance lists 12 areas where parking is prohibited. These include no parking on a public sidewalk, trail or pedestrian walkway, no parking 12 inches away from the curb or on a bridge; no parking within five feet of the entrance of a public driveway; no parking if it creates a hazard or impediment to the normal flow of traffic.
People cannot park a recreation vehicle, trailer or other towed equipment on a public street or right of way for longer than 48 hours or a motor vehicle in the same public parking space for more than 48 hours.
Commercial vehicles cannot be parked in areas zoned residential with the exception of short-term parking related to a legitimate business.
The ordinance authorizes the police department to remove any parked vehicle that creates a hazard or impedes traffic. Prior to towing, the department will try to contact the owner or the person in control of the vehicle. When a vehicle is towed, it is the responsibility of the owner to pay the towing and storage costs before the vehicle can be released.
Larry Oelrich, director of administrative services and public works, brought up the subject of parking problems at the council's August meeting. The ordinance will take effect around mid-November.
In other action, the council approved an engineering services agreement with McClelland Consulting Engineers for a sewer feasibility study along the highway bypass corridor and approved a resolution to accept a low bid from Dyna Pak Corporation for trash bags. The city will pay .223 cents per 32-gallon bag and .1158 cents per 15-gallon bag.
The council also approved an ordinance to rescind Ordinance 2019-23, a measure adopted in July to detach 27 acres from Farmington and annex it into Prairie Grove. For the annexation to take place, Farmington City Council would have had to approve its own ordinance to detach the land and allow the annexation to move forward.
Rausch Coleman Homes requested the action because it was interested in purchasing and developing land behind David Rose Gun Shop on U.S. Highway 62. Of this land, 27 acres is in Farmington and about 12 acres is in Prairie Grove.
The proposal did not come before Farmington's city council because Rausch Coleman decided to "pull the plug," according to an Aug. 20 email from the development company to Prairie Grove officials.
The title of the original ordinance was the 2019 Barker Detachment and Annexation Ordinance. The title of the ordinance approved at September meeting: the Barker Detachment Rescission Ordinance. The land is owned by Darrell Barker, according to county property records.
General News on 10/02/2019