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Florissant Studies Need to Regulate Carport Contents
By Carol Arnett
The Florissant City Council discussed carports at the executive session before the council meeting last week. The council had previously asked the city Planning and Zoning (P and Z) Commission to look into regulating carports. The council would like to regulate the amount of things that can be in a carport.
City Building Commissioner Lou Jearls said that P and Z Commission members wanted more information before they could offer an opinion. They wanted to know how many garages and carports are in the city, and how many complaints the city had received about carports.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” said Councilman Tim Lee. He used the example of lumber. “You can have 2 x 4’s out there for six years. You’re neighbors may not like them, but they’re perfectly good 2 x 4’s,” he said. He said this made it difficult to write an ordinance regulating trash and debris in the carports.
“I’d like a provision in the ordinance that requires room in the carport for a car instead of relying on the existing trash and debris ordinance,” Lee said.
Lee suggested that the ordinance require that a percentage of the total space in the carport be clear. He suggested 60%.
This led to a question from the Public Works representative at the meeting, who asked City Attorney John Hessel if city employees could legally go into the carport to measure the space.
Hessel said that there was “no expectation of privacy,” in an open area, such as a carport. Mayor Robert Lowery disagreed, but he said that the Police Department had tools that could measure from the street without going onto the property.
Council members suggested that city employees could estimate from the street. The council will draft an ordinance regarding the carports for a future council meeting.
Also in the executive session, the council discussed the ordinance prohibiting the painting of brick commercial properties. Painting is prohibited, but some businesses in town have painted their brick.
Lee said he wanted the city to take these businesses to court “for not doing what they’re supposed to do.” Lowery said the city would issue citations.
Hessel stated that the city could continue to issue citations until the paint was removed. “You can’t force them to remove the paint, but you can fine them daily until they do,” Hessel said.
