Council updates parking rules and ordinance‑violations bureau; both ordinances pass unanimously

Goshen — The City Council on March 23 adopted two ordinances that revise parking rules and update the city’s ordinance violations bureau (OVB). Both ordinances passed unanimously on second and final reading.

Don Schuler of the city legal department told council Ordinance 52-53 updates Title 4, Article 4 to add an explicit prohibition on parking in fire lanes, revise citation procedures to reflect the city’s use of the ordinance violations bureau and move certain parking-related violations out of the zoning code and into the parking code where they are easier to enforce.

Council proposed a small textual amendment to remove references to "taxi" in section 4‑4‑110’s header after the taxi references were removed from the body text. The amendment was moved and approved unanimously, and the ordinance passed first and second readings without objection.

Ordinance 52-54 amends the ordinance violations bureau to add the new parking-in-fire-lane violation, add public-nuisance enforcement through the OVB (the council had adopted an updated public nuisance ordinance last fall) and raise fines in tiers 2, 3 and 4 by $24 for first, second and third violations. Schuler said a track-changes copy was provided for review.

Both ordinances take effect per the city’s normal enactment schedule; staff indicated copies showing the changes were provided in the council packet and that they are available for public review.