Ordinances regulating parking, noise, curfews OK’d
HIGHFILL — The City Council at its meeting Feb. 9 adopted ordinances regulating parking on streets, a curfew for minors and excessive noise.
In addition to other parking prohibitions such as parking within 10 feet of a mailbox or parking where a prohibition is posted, parking will be prohibited on any street or alley in the city for any period of more than 12 hours.
The measure was taken to limit parking along streets and alleys which impedes traffic, limits access by emergency vehicles, and poses a danger to motorists and pedestrians. Of special concern was the risk to playing children in subdivisions who may step out from behind a parked vehicle and into the street.
Councilman Justin Allen opposed the measure, suggesting there was no need to pass an ordinance if parking wasn’t yet an issue. Jayme Thompson, Jeremy Rogers and Audrey Thompson, who was appointed and sworn in to represent Ward 2, Position 3, earlier in the meeting, supported the measure. Chris Holland and Toby Lester were absent, so Mayor Michelle Rieff cast the deciding vote to pass the ordinance.
Another ordinance amended the city code to make it unlawful for any person younger than 18 to be in any establishment or public place between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Sunday through Thursday and from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday unless accompanied by a parent or a guardian.
The ordinance also makes it unlawful for parents, or the owners or operators of a public establishment to allow a minor to violate the curfew ordinance.
Allen again voted no after asking and being told by law enforcement youth out late at night hadn’t been a frequent issue in Highfill. The mayor again added the needed vote to pass the measure on three readings with a single vote.
A noise ordinance amends the city code and includes restrictions on engine brakes and removing mufflers on vehicles. Also included are excessively loud or long noises produced by radios, TVs, boom boxes, musical instruments, vehicle horns and other similar devices, as well as limiting loud noises related to construction and power tools between the hours of 10 p.m. and dawn. Horns and signaling devices used as a warning of danger are exempted.
Another ordinance vacated a portion of Linwood Street, making the dead-end street 40 feet wide for its entire length and not 40 feet wide near the highway and 80 feet wide farther south. A final plat of the Woodward Hills subdivision, Phase 5, also was accepted by ordinance.
The council authorized applying for a $15,000 Arkansas Rural Community Grant for the Highfill Community Building with the city matching the amount in labor and product donations, to continue work on the building.
Rieff pointed out should the city be awarded the grant, the council still had the option to decline it.
The council amended the 2020 budget to accurately reflect incoming revenue and expenditures during the last year.
The council appointed John Goins to the Planning Commission. Allen asked if there would be any conflict of interest with Goins appointed to commission. JC Brenaman, the city’s public works supervisor and building inspector, said Goins brings a wealth of knowledge and experience related to construction and subdivisions.
Rieff told council members there are three proposed routes for the connector route to the Northwest Arkansas National Airport and they all come through Highfill. She said the proposed new road would connect the airport to Arkansas 612 — also known as the Springdale Bypass — and extend north to the Bella Vista Bypass, though the exact routes weren’t yet publicly available.
She also announced Cave Springs intended to annex additional land to the west of the city but it wouldn’t seek to annex any land west of the Osage Creek.