HOLMES BEACH – City officials have come up with an alternative to prohibiting parking along the south side of Key Royale Drive between Marina Drive and the bridge.
The alternative solution to be discussed at the Tuesday, March 11 Holmes Beach City Commission meeting proposes enforcing an existing parking requirement, removing the sidewalk along the south side of Key Royale Drive and installing a new sidewalk approximately 3 feet further to the south. This would provide enough space for vehicles to legally park along both sides of the street with all tires off the pavement and off the new sidewalk.
Public Works Director and City Engineer Sage Kamiya proposed the alternative solution in a March 4 memo that he sent to Mayor Judy Titsworth and Police Chief Bill Tokajer. He issued the memo in response to the city commission discussion that occurred on Feb. 25 when he proposed limiting parking to the north side of Key Royale Drive.
During the Feb. 25 discussion, Kamiya, Tokajer and Titsworth said the city received numerous complaints about landscaping and construction vehicles parked in the road and restricting travel lanes and access for passing motorists and emergency responders. Kamiya said that Key Royale Drive serves as a main thoroughfare for approximately 340 residents and Tokajer noted city code requires vehicles to be parked with all tires off the roadway. City code also prohibits parking on a sidewalk.
The Feb. 25 discussion ended with the city commission majority expressing tentative support to have a city resolution drafted that would establish the proposed parking restriction. The commissioners wanted the resolution, or some other solution, presented for further discussion at a future meeting that would allow potentially impacted property owners to express their views before any formal action is taken. Commissioner Carol Whitmore opposed the parking restriction.
Alternative solution
In his March 4 memo, Kamiya wrote, “After further discussion, and in coordination with the chief of police, we recommend enforcing the requiring parking along this section of roadway to have all tires off the roadway. This is consistent with and pursuant to the city’s code, Sec. 62-31.”
According to Sec. 62-31 of the city’s code of ordinances, “For any vehicle parked in a right of way, all tires are required to be located fully within the right of way and no tire or part of a vehicle may be located in the roadway, except for on Key Royale Drive between Crestwood Road and North Point Drive.”
In his memo, Kamiya said relocating the sidewalk further to the south would create the space needed to accommodate legal parking in the city rights of way along both sides of the street.
“Signs will also be erected stating ‘Parallel parking only with all tires off the road.’ Further, the city will require all landscaping rocks, tree plantings, landscaping borders to be removed from the right of way along both sides of Key Royale Drive,” according to the memo.
The memo references properties located between 506/507 and 532/533 Key Royale Drive and says, “This area needs to be clear of any planting or structures. Residents are not being asked to move mailboxes or driveways. It will be requested that this right of way be cleared of any plantings and structures by April 28.”
Kamiya’s memo also says, “There is no action required by the commission for this enforcement. In the event the commission would like to consider allowing for the continued parking in this roadway, this would have to be accomplished by an ordinance change.”
When contacted by The Sun on March 8, Titsworth said, “Being that the law is already on the books, the commission doesn’t need to act. We just need to enforce the laws that are currently in the code. We will bring forth a contract to relocate the sidewalk so both sides of the street can accommodate landscaping and construction vehicles. There isn’t ample parking space until we get people to move their landscaping out of the right of way and we are going to start notifying homeowners that have encroached into the right of way.”
When contacted the same day, Tokajer said, “After reviewing this with Sage and the mayor, we decided that instead of all the impact being on the north side of the road we have the opportunity to move the sidewalk and allow parking on both sides of the road, with all four tires off the road. This would leave the roadway completely open while allowing lawn maintenance and construction workers to legally park along both sides of the road.”
Tokajer said the current sidewalk has been in place as long as he can remember and the “all tires off the road” parking requirement was enacted about a year and half ago. Tokajer believes the proposed alternative addresses the parking and public safety concerns along Key Royale Drive without placing all the burden on the property owners on the north side of the street.
“We will advise the commission as to what our plan is,” Tokajer said of the Key Royale Drive parking discussion included on the March 11 meeting agenda.
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