Board pulls property maintenance ordinance

Some members of the Hot Springs Board of Directors balked at looser property maintenance code regulations last month, questioning why restrictions on grass height and parking should be relaxed.

An ordinance enshrining the less restrictive requirements was initially on the agenda for the board’s July 2 business meeting but was removed a week prior at the request of the board. Reviewing the property maintenance code was one of the goals the board established for the 2019-20 term. But recommendations stemming from the review conducted by the planning and development department went too far, some directors said.

The ordinance would amend maximum grass height from 6 to 10 inches and repeal the prohibition on parking vehicles in front or side yards adjacent to a street. District 5 Director Karen Garcia told the planning department the changes didn’t seem inspired by community will or sentiment.

Deputy City Manager Lance Spicer said a review of other cities’ codes partially informed the recommendations. Russellville and Little Rock allow grass to reach 10 inches. Benton allows 8 inches, Fort

Smith 6 and El Dorado has no height restrictions, according to information presented to the board.

“I didn’t know we asked for this,” Garcia said. “I would get more complaints. I haven’t heard from people wanting all this. I hear from people who don’t want parking on the grass or higher grass heights. I get more complaints about people not keeping height down. I don’t get any complaints on my side of town about allowing it to grow higher.”

District 1 Director Erin Holliday said relaxing height limitations would benefit many of her constituents, which skew older and live in areas where topography and soil conditions frustrate yard maintenance.

“On my side of town lots of people don’t have lawn mowers, or they don’t have the ability or time,” she told the board. “Six inches is low. A lot of people who maintain their grass cut it to 5 inches, so one rain and you’re out the door. I think it would maybe lighten the load a little on planning and give people a little more time to manage what they have to manage.”

Mayor Pat McCabe said the height restriction has been a long-standing source of controversy.

“We’ve certainly heard about the grass height issue, especially in the spring when it catches everybody by surprise,” he told the board. “It goes from dormancy to full growth.”

The recommendations also came from input provided by city code enforcers, Spicer said.

“These are some of the top issues they run into when they’re out in the community,” he said. “It’s just a recommendation from staff based on community input and neighborhood services.”

The amendment would also repeal vehicle repair permits, effectively expediting the removal of inoperable vehicles. Under the current code, the city can remove an inoperable vehicle from private property five days after notifying the property owner. An inoperable vehicle repair permit can delay the process, giving owners four months to restore vehicles to driving condition. Up to two permits per address can be applied for in a calendar year.

“In somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of the cases the permit results in a vehicle actually becoming operable,” Planning and Development Director Kathy Sellman told the board. “In the remainder of the cases, an inoperable vehicle remains on the property six to eight months longer before it gets removed.”

Sellman said repealing the prohibition on parking in yards would provide relief for residents of older neighborhoods.

“In the older neighborhoods, where lots are small and there are not garages, this may provide a hardship for people with even one vehicle, let alone more than one,” she said of the prohibition.

Addressing District 3 Director Becca Clark’s concern about yards becoming informal car lots, Sellman said some cities limit the number of vehicles that can be parked in a yard.

“There is one community in our peer group that limits the number of vehicles to six, but if you get a family with four teenagers, you’re going to have a bunch of cars,” she said.

Garcia asked if the code changes could include exemptions, excusing from compliance residents who demonstrate a hardship, rather than be implemented uniformly. Sellman said residents can already petition for dispensation through the board of adjustments and appeals.