Where to park? One man objects to Destin parking-ticket policies

Destin shouldn’t give out parking tickets for parking on the sidewalk when the parked car sits in your own driveway, Bob Biel of the Twin Lakes subdivision says.

“The way a lot of homes in Destin were designed, they don’t have a lot of parking space,” Biel told The Log. “They don’t want us to park in the street (so) if you’ve got more than two vehicles ...”

City policy, however, is that it’s illegal to park blocking the sidewalk, even in a driveway. Biel told The Log that last week, Destin’s Code Enforcement Department wrote tickets for a number of parked cars in Twin Lakes, including his, without giving them warnings first.

“No one I spoke with knew anything about any warnings,” Biel said. “They did not receive a warning and they were ticketed.”

City Manager Greg Kisela responded to the Twin Lakes complaints by having code-enforcement rescind any tickets if the department hadn’t issued a warning.

“Our general practice is to try and warn people first,” Code Enforcement Director David Bazylak said. In Twin Lakes, he said, “we went through and did a mass warning, (placed) a bunch of fliers on cars — Bob may have been missed.”

Sidewalk parking is not a new issue. Residents have complained to City Council and city staff for years about cars parked where they block the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians and cyclists onto nearby grass, or out into the roadway — a particular problem for small kids or people using walkers or wheelchairs. Homeowners have argued they should be able to park in their driveway, and in many subdivisions that means parking across the sidewalk.

“Parking infractions are a moving target and we respond to complaints from pedestrians who are forced either to walk in the street or the grass,” City Manager Greg Kisela said. “I don't want a kid, an elderly person or a handicap individual hurt because they are forced to walk in the street.”

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, which handles Destin law enforcement, has said it didn’t have the manpower to make parking tickets a priority without pulling deputies off other duties. In 2006, the City Council authorized code enforcement officers to write tickets, something Florida law allows.

Bazylak said drivers still object to getting a sidewalk-parking ticket, but Destin ordinances say parked cars need to leave three and a half feet of clearance at the sidewalk.

Biel said that after receiving his ticket, he walked around his truck without any trouble staying on the pavement and out of the grass. He added that there were many cars violating the same rule in other neighborhoods, so “if it’s ‘shame on me’ it should be ‘shame on everybody.’”

Bazylak agreed it’s a citywide problem, but in addition to watching out for it during their daily rounds, Code Enforcement periodically makes “sweeps” through various neighborhoods to give out warnings.

Bazylak said that in the future, code enforcement officers will write down the numbers of the cars they place fliers on, so they’ll have a record of the warning being issued.

 “We’re trying to improve the quality of life,” he said, “but there can be a few snafus.”