Casper Council One Step Closer to Passing Parkway Parking

At the Casper City Council meeting on Tuesday, the council approved, 7-1, on the second of three readings changes to the city ordinance which would allow people to park on the parkway.

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The issue had attracted in the previous reading four people to come to the council to offer their comments on why they were against the original proposal, which had a $100 initial fee and a $25 yearly fee, but this time only one person, Bruce Dangle, came to speak about the issue.

Dangle said the issues he still has with the ordinance are the need for a fee at all and whether citizens will be fined if they attempt to change their oil or other car maintenance on their property.

Carter Napier, the Casper city manager, said that he does not believe there would be any reason the police would offer any kind of fine if people do maintenance on their car, but the city would take issue if someone begins trying to fix other people's cars.

Due to the previous comments and discussions the council had, they had decided to remove the $100 initial fee, meaning people would only have to pay a $25 yearly fee to receive a placard that they can place on their vehicle in order to park on the parkway.

The one vote against the ordinance, vice mayor Steve Freel, was due to an opposition he has to charge any amount of money for the permit because people are required to maintain the public property, even if it's owned by the city.

John Henley, the Casper city attorney, said that it would be unconstitutional for the city to give public land to private individuals without charging some kind of fee.

Councilmember Shawn Johnson said that this is a conversation that has been going on since 2015 when the council then decided to not allow anyone to park on the parkway, that he believes a $25 fee is "a drop in the bucket," and that money would not come close to cover the administrative cost for the permitting process.