Coming off one of the snowiest winters in recent memory, the Grand Marais City Council discussed—but made no decisions—about creating an ordinance for where and when vehicles are parked on the streets during a snow event.
The discussion was held at the Grand Marais City Council’s March 13 meeting.
County Highway Engineer Krysten Foster came before council with several suggestions about how to deal with snow emergencies, snow removal, and scheduling. Many communities use calendar parking, said Foster, who presented a draft ordinance for council to consider.
Simply put, under terms of this ordinance all vehicles and trailers would be required to be parked on odd-numbered days on the odd-numbered house side of the street and on even-numbered days parked on the even house number side.
If enacted, the snow removal ordinance suggested a start date that spanned from November 1 to April 30, based on the amount of snow, of course.
Early in the year there will be a grace period where offenders will be warned but not ticketed. As winter snows piles up and snowplow drivers have more work to do, people who ignore the ordinance would see their vehicles towed and would be fined.
Included in the ordinance is an exception for enforcement at night because the plows (mostly) don’t go out at night. A suggested grace time is from 7 p.m. to midnight before your vehicle is moved, but this too, is subject to revision.
Council also went over a list of six priorities. Highlighting those was upcoming discussions about updating the agreements between the city and the county about the YMCA, sheriff ’s department, and roads that are jointly managed/owned by the county and city.
Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) right of way offers for city owned land that will be included in the 2020 MnDOT Highway 61 road work through Grand Marais were talked over, but more information is needed from MnDOT before any decisions can be made about certain parcels the state says it needs that could affect the city’s drainage system.
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