After 16 neighborhood representatives said they want to be able to park in front of their own homes, ParkWise spent an hour Tuesday talking about why they shouldn't.
The ParkWise Commission is studying a city ordinance that prohibits parking between the street and the property line, regardless of whether there's a sidewalk.
This comes after some neighborhood groups complained to their City Council members about increased parking enforcement.
The commission process has included two public meetings and several commission meetings.
The debate has included hours of talking about what the word sidewalk means, legally speaking.
The commission approved draft changes to the city parking ordinance that would define a sidewalk as "intended for the use of pedestrians" in a 9-1 vote Tuesday.
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But they narrowly defeated in a 4-5-1 vote a draft change to create a new term - "sidewalk area" - defined as an area between the property line and the street "not intended for the use of pedestrians."
The draft changes would make it "unlawful to stop, stand or park a vehicle in a sidewalk area."
Without such an ordinance, commissioners fear it would be legal for anyone to park in front of any home and it would open liability issues for the city.
Commission chair Dale Calvert said the proposed changes would help make it clear when a ticket should be issued, but it wouldn't solve the community's dilemma about where it is OK to park.
"There is a strong message from the public that they don't want tickets issued in that area," he said.
The Broadmoor-Broadway Village Neighborhood Association was one of the most vocal at the public hearings.
Richard Roati, a vice president of the neighborhood association, said enforcing the ordinance just doesn't make sense in his neighborhood.
Many homes in the neighborhood were built in the 1940s and '50s with a carport for a single car, which isn't practical for today's two-car families, he said.
There are no sidewalks or pathways, so people walk in the street.
The streets are also narrow, Roati said, so a car parked on each side of the street would make it hard for an emergency vehicle to get through and less safe for pedestrians walking on the street between cars.
Nobody patrolled the neighborhood for parking violations until this year, and the neighborhood association board unanimously adopted a resolution asking ParkWise to be removed from routine enforcement.
ParkWise will meet again Tuesday to continue its discussion of the draft ordinance changes, which ultimately will be forwarded to the City Council.
Did you know?
Parking citations make up about 17 percent of ParkWise revenue.
Contact reporter Becky Pallack at bpallack@azstarnet.com or 573-4346. On Twitter @BeckyPallack.
