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Clark County looks to changes in parking codes
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Jason Bean/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Sgt. Jimmy Hines, a Las Vegas deputy constable, explains to Roberta Flores that she has violated a code that forbids storing vehicles on residential streets. Some people skirt the rule by moving a vehicle a foot every three days. Two Clark County commissioners want to tighten rules to end that tactic. » Buy this photo
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A tow truck driver loads a derelict vehicle onto a flatbed to haul it to an impound lot. Proposed rules would make it harder for vehicle owners to sidestep parking enforcement and would forbid them from parking large vehicles, trailers and boats in neighborhood streets within unincorporated areas. Jason Bean/Las Vegas Review-Journal » Buy this photo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Jun. 28, 2011 | 8:37 a.m.
A blue chalk mark on the back tire of a weathered recreational vehicle was damning evidence.
Roberta Flores, the owner, was working on the RV when a Las Vegas deputy constable arrived to check whether the vehicle had budged since he had stuck a red warning tag on the side three days before.
The chalk line he had scrawled on the tire showed it hadn't.
If Flores, 40, hadn't been there, her RV would have been towed because it had remained idle 72 hours after she got the notice.
Instead, she talked Sgt. Jimmy Hines into giving her four more days to move the vehicle into storage.
"It was just given to me," Flores said of the RV parked near Lamb and Charleston boulevards. "I'm semi-homeless; I'm staying with my boyfriend."
Some owners of derelict clunkers use a more devious method to avoid citations in Clark County's unincorporated areas: They roll the vehicle a foot or so every 72 hours.
If the chalk-marked tire has turned, officers can do nothing.
"These are people that have learned how to game the system," said Lou Toomin, spokesman for the Las Vegas constable's office.
County Commissioners Steve Sisolak and Chris Giunchigliani want to close that loophole.
That would put the county's code in line with the city's, which doesn't allow owners to move a disabled vehicle a short distance to beat the time limit for parking on a neighborhood street.
Residents often get irate when a junky car isn't cleared from the street after they've made multiple complaints, Hines said.
"All of the neighbors are calling the constable, asking, 'Why aren't you doing anything?' "
CHANGING COUNTY PARKING CODES
Giunchigliani also wants other residential parking codes in the county's jurisdiction to mirror those in the city of Las Vegas more closely.
County staff are fine-tuning the final draft, partly to ensure none of the proposed rules conflicts with state laws.
Giunchigliani's proposal isn't aimed just at clunkers that might be disabled or abandoned.
It also would forbid owners from parking commercial vehicles, RVs, boats and trailers that are 24 feet or longer on residential streets.
And it would prohibit mobile billboards within 500 feet of a dwelling, a rule that the city began imposing in 2009.
One of Giunchigliani's proposed codes is raising questions about whether it might infringe on property rights.
It would give the county the authority to remove from a person's property a vehicle that "has been damaged or is in such a state of disrepair as to constitute an imminent hazard to the public."
Passers-by must have access to the vehicle -- for instance, children who might be tempted to climb on it.
Still, Constable John Bonaventura said he is concerned that towing a vehicle, even a dead one, from the owner's driveway might be unconstitutional.
He is in favor of the county's code matching the city's rule against moving a vehicle a short distance on a street to avoid citations, he said. Creating a uniform code in both jurisdictions would simplify things for deputies, who no longer would have to worry about whether a street falls into county or city turf, he said.
But taking anything from private property, no matter how unsightly it is, can be a sticky matter, Bonaventura said. What began as a straightforward code change has become "convoluted," he added.
The county might be better off limiting its enforcement to public streets, Bonaventura said. "When they (owners) use public property for their own personal storage, that's when it becomes a problem for the person who owns the vehicle."
Giunchigliani, though, said bringing the county in line with what the city is already doing should be OK.
Several constituents have complained to her about people who park commercial vehicles in neighborhoods and play the game of rolling it a foot every three days, she said. She said she also knows of eyesores such as mobile billboards and boats parked on streets and trashed cars in driveways.
"I felt there were other areas that needed tightening up," Giunchigliani said.
LAS VEGAS RULES
City codes forbid residents from storing cars in the front yard or keeping a disabled heap in the driveway.
Owners are given 60 days to repair a vehicle or move it out of sight, city spokesman Jace Radke said.
If they don't comply in that time, they could be fined or have their vehicles towed, Radke said. He noted that although the city can remove vehicles from driveways, it seldom needs to take this action.
The city allows each household to have one commercial vehicle with a ton or less carrying capacity, he said. It can be parked in the driveway or the street as long as it runs.
Driving into a neighborhood off Boulder Highway, Hines, the deputy constable, said the codes are intended for areas not covered by homeowners associations, which often have strict rules for on-street parking.
He used to impound a fifth of the vehicles he tagged with red warning stickers, he said. But since people learned the trick of moving a vehicle a foot every three days, he impounds one in 15.
Hines said he checks a parked vehicle for a valid registration. If there is none, the owner is fined $190.
Storing a vehicle on the street longer than the law allows also carries a $190 fine, plus the cost of towing it to the impound lot.
One car that he had red-tagged was marked "4 sale." Such cars can be left on the street only 48 hours, he said, noting that the owner had moved it to the driveway.
Nearby, a man who works on cars had a ratty, rusted van in his driveway. Under current rules, Hines can't cite him. But under the proposed code, he could.
An unregistered white SUV hadn't moved since Hines tagged it three days before. He called a tow truck, which hauled it away.
If the new rules are passed, derelict cars getting towed will become a more common sight.
Contact reporter Scott Wyland at swyland@ reviewjournal.com or 702-455-4519.
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The vast majority of these code changes don't make any sense. Who cares if the vehicle doesn't move if it is registered? Isn't the registration paying for the "privilege" of use on public streets? Also, if someone wants to store property (i.e. an unregistered car) on their property in their driveway, I do not see the rationale for making that a code violation. The ruse of it "bringing down our community's property values" doesn't jive.
"We're from the government. We're here to help!"
MORE regulations are obviously needed. More laws. More restrictions. THEN we can live in harmony, right?
A sticker on a car gives you no defence. What if the owner never sees it? Is the owner properly served? It should require a court order to tow a car except in an emergency. In the old days the price for taking a mans horse was hanging. ----------------------------- Catch 22 if I do not move my vehicle ti will be towed but to move it I need a tow. Owner 0 tow truck company 2.
I think my neighbor is a ugly old busybody and an eye sore. Can I have him towed away?
The Fifth Amendment makes it clear that when the government physically seizes private property that it will have to pay just compensation. Will the owners of theses vehicles be given a hearing or any legal defense. Are they to be denied due process and their civil rights. Will they be judged by a group of their peers or a tow truck driver who will make a great profit from their misfortune?
Well put Virga.Rain ...
Will do Skipdog.... learnsing engwish as bist I cans ther's boss man... just as soon as i's a takes out de dogs to da pound and has 'em puts downs for za bad barkiings in bad engwish... I'lls a takes me ans Engwlish clases...
Dang, had no clue we were being graded on our English, Thank goodness we're not being graded on our manors, huh Skippydoggie?
I know skippy, lets have a spelling bee and a quiz on manors... oooops... forgot,... okay we'll skip the manor quiz for now... just for you though....
This loophole should have been closed a long time ago. It's time the county cracked down on the RV's, boats and junk cars that are stored in the street. The broken down and unregistered cars that are parked on front yards and in driveways need to go as well. Tag them and tow them.
If a poor persons car is towed it is lost forever to them. Most can not and will not pay the outrageous charges charged by the tow companies for a car that need major repair. Salute your local rich tow truck hero keeping people safe from parked cars.
Let's see. The government gave billions to the auto makers then they gave the rich money to purchase new cars then the destroyed to good gars that the rich were driving so the poor could not purchase a good used car. Now the poor because no good used cars are available can't keep their older cars running so the government just kicks the poor in the -itt and tows their old cars away. Not a pretty site to see. What is the pecking order of politico or tow truck drivers who is the lowest on the scale of humane dignity.