Parking in yard OK for homes built before 2008
OLDER HOMES CAN TURN YARDS INTO PARKING LOTS: That’s what the city zoning code says.
A reader who lives on Kilmer NW, near Sequoia and Ladera, called recently to ask what she can do to address her declining property values. She says her neighbors park on the landscape gravel and have changed the character of the area from nice residential into a low-rent neighborhood.
If the homes were built before 2008 and have not had an addition put on, then the neighbors can legally park on their yards.
Melissa Perez, public information officer for the city of Albuquerque Planning Department, explains that “per the zoning code, all houses built in 2007 and prior are grandfathered in. So homes of that age do not have limitations — except RVs — for front-yard parking.
“However, any home built after 2007 does have restrictions. For homes built after 2007 they must park in a designated parking spot made of a dust-free surface, usually concrete, asphalt, etc. Plus, for homes built after 2007, they also have a limit on the number of parking spots that is a calculated percentage of the square footage of the lot.”
She adds that for the pre2008-built homes, “if the building has added a 200 square-foot addition or larger since 2007, then the building would fall under the new zoning regulations, which limit front-yard parking.”
VEHICLES RULE OUTSIDE OF CROSSWALKS:
After a recent column on pedestrian crosswalks, Karen L. Pagel of Alamogordo asks “can a pedestrian only legal(ly) cross the street at a marked crosswalk?
“I find that if I am trying to cross a street at a corner with no marked crosswalk and I am just standing on the curb waiting for a break in traffic, no one will yield to me unless (I) take a couple of steps into the roadway. Should they yield for me while on the curb?” No. State statute 66-7-335, “Crossing at other than crosswalks,” part A says “Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.”
STUCK BEHIND THE BUS ON OFFICE NE:
Steve Drilling emails “nearly every time I drive Office Boulevard NE just north of the Interstate 25 frontage road around 8 a.m., there is an Albuquerque city bus parked at the bus stop, blocking northbound traffic in the single northbound lane. The bus driver is often standing outside the bus, so it clearly is not just a brief stop to pick up passengers. This forces drivers to use the center turn lane, which is certainly a hazard since there’s a large dip in the pavement next to the bus’s parking spot and southbound traffic uses the turn lane as well. There needs to be a curb cut-out for the bus, or it needs to find a new parking place.”
Rick DeReyes, public information officer for ABQ Ride, says he did a little digging and learned the “Route No. 251-ABQ-Rio Rancho/Rail Runner Connection stops at that Office NE stop ... several times a day for its layover, generally about 20 minutes.”
And he explains “a layover is when the bus has finished with its southbound trip in this situation and is waiting to make its northbound trip.”
DeReyes says this “schedule is governed by the need to meet the Rail Runner when it’s at the Los Ranchos station. That current layover stop has a sidewalk and bus shelter provided by the developer when the TownePlace Suites were built. They also allow our drivers to use their bathrooms. There’s no other place on the route’s turnaround loop — Jefferson, I-25 Frontage Road, Office, and Singer back to Jefferson — that is better for our layover than the current location.
“The rationale for the layover is that Office is a ‘minor’ street with lower traffic volumes and a slower speed limit than Jefferson or Singer; bathrooms are available for drivers; and the center lane provides an opportunity for traffic to pass the bus. Route No. 251 buses have been laying over in that general area since the route started in 2006.”
CARS ARE BLOWING THROUGH THE SIGNAL AT AHA:
Recently a reader called who said that as he drove his daughter to and from Atrisco Heritage Academy this summer, the signal would go red for all directions. Problem was, drivers ran it from all directions.
Melanie Martinez, program manager and public information officer for Albuquerque’s Department of Municipal Development, says “the intersection at 118th and Dennis Chavez is the one at AHA, and it is operating as programmed. If drivers are running the red light, it is an enforcement issue and the Albuquerque Police Department/Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office should be contacted.”