Annapolis residents were fined $200 for blocking their own driveways. Vehicles overhanging sidewalks can also trigger the steep citation. Mayor says complaints may be driving more neighborhood enforcement. Parking at one’s home isn’t something most homeowners think much about. They park where they park, and they move on with their day. In Annapolis, Maryland, they are having to think twice. Plenty are reporting $200 citations issued to them for parking where they’re not allowed to: in front of their own driveways. Several residents in one neighborhood say they were recently hit with steep fines after parking a second vehicle in front of their own driveway. According to one resident who spoke with Eye on Anapolis, three neighbors in the same cul-de-sac were all ticketed on the same morning, despite using the same setup for years. Some of the families involved have reportedly lived there for more than 26 years without ever receiving a citation. The tickets appear to fall into two categories. Some drivers were cited for parking on the street in a way that blocked their own driveway. Others were fined because a vehicle parked in the driveway extended far enough to partially block the sidewalk. Read: Florida Mother Fined Over $100,000 For Parking On Her Own Lawn That second one is where things get especially frustrating. For better (and mostly worse), plenty of modern pickups and SUVs are simply too large for older suburban driveways. A full-size truck, long-wheelbase crossover, or even a large family SUV can easily stick out over the sidewalk by a few inches. Apparently, that is enough to trigger a $200 fine. In some cases, that fine can be over $300. Residents say that they’ve appealed to both local officials and the city’s parking contractor, but those cries have evidently gone nowhere fast. One said their initial appeal was rejected, and a second is pending. The mayor, Jared Littmann, blamed residents themselves, saying, “What we suspect is happening is that it might be increasing in certain parts of the city, based on customer responsiveness. So if you happen to call for more enforcement on your street, there’s gonna be more enforcement on your street. Not because it’s city-driven, but because you happen to live in a neighborhood and you called in, and they’re not just gonna come in looking for this specific instance that you saw, but anything else they see while they’re there.” There’s no real remedy or fix coming either. Residents just have to be especially careful how they park in Annapolis. Those who live in other places might do well to double-check just what’s legal and what isn’t before parking in front of their own home. Photo GM, Lead image Google Maps
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