Glen tightens parking, code enforcement ordinances

Glen tightens parking, code enforcement ordinances

POSTED 09/17/08 - The town of Glen St. Mary took two steps toward cleaning up the town at Tuesday night's council meeting. The council unanimously approved two ordinances and the budget for the coming fiscal year at their meeting.

Ordinance 2008-03 restricts the parking of commercial vehicles in the town and prohibits the parking of any vehicle weighing more than 10,000 pounds or designed to carry 16 or more passengers along any residential street. It also prohibits parking inoperable vehicles outside.

The new law also has restrictions on the use of back-up alarms at night and parking in such a way as to restrict the use of public sidewalks.

Ordinance 2008-04 establishes a mechanism for enforcement of town codes for houses and businesses. It also establishes an interlocal agreement with Baker County allowing the town clerk to bring cases directly to the county's Code Enforcement Board to levy fines against violators.

Before the enactment of this legislation, the town clerk had the authority to bring action against violating properties. However, because there was no agreement with Baker County the county enforcement board would have to start their own proceedings from the beginning.

In other business, the town adopted the 2008/2009 budget and amended the budget for the current fiscal year.

The budget for the current year required slight modification due to the downturn in the housing market.

Glen St. Mary had budgeted to receive impact fees for construction of eight new houses. Only two were built. While this decreased revenue it also resulted in decreased expenditures.

The coming year's budget projects flat growth in income and expenditures.