EMMITSBURG,
Md. – Residents living along DePaul Street who received
tickets Thursday, Dec. 15, for violating a town snow route
declaration will not have to pay for the violations, according
to the mayor.
Town
spokesperson Patricia Feeser told The Dispatch
that 71 tickets had been issued for parking on DePaul during
the snow. Zoning enforcement officers Amy Naill and Carol
Kelley issued the tickets, which each carry a $15 fine.
Mayor
James E. Hoover told The Dispatch that tickets
were issued after DePaul Street residents had been notified
by mail (on Dec. 5) that the street was to be declared a
snow emergency route in town with restricted parking.
However,
the mayor said that when staff sent the letter they did
not remove the word “proposed” from the top
of the initial draft. “As a result,” he stated,
“residents were confused as to whether or not it (the
snow route) was in effect.”
Hoover
also said that signage posted on DePaul “was very
vague and limited (in their wording) which created more
confusion.”
Town
staff had recommended that the street become a snow emergency
route, which Hoover said he supported. “That’s
why we hired a superintendent (of streets, parks and utilities),
to make recommendations,” he said.
Since
not all DePaul Street residents have off-street parking,
Hoover told The Dispatch he “requested that
a letter be sent to the residents informing them of the
town’s intention to make this a snow emergency route,
and since there was some homes with no off-street parking,
we were going to identify a limited area of the street where
we would allow parking.”
Once
the tickets were issued and it was brought to the mayor’s
attention that the signage was not as clear as he had wanted
it to be, “I instructed the staff to waive those tickets,”
he explained.
“There
will not be any tickets issued for snow removal until proper
signage is in place and a new letter is sent to the residents,”
Hoover said. In the meantime, the mayor said that town staff
would identify all the tickets written on Dec. 15 for snow
route parking violations and make sure no one has to pay.
