Council Votes to Change Rules for Removing Nuisance Vehicles
Trevor Phipps
It is now Woodland Park’s turn to prepare for outright war against “junk cars,” an issue that has commanded main stage attention at times throughout unincorporated sections of Teller County over the last five years with no shortage of opinions from property owners and vehicle operators.
As a result, if you own an inoperable, unlicensed or unattended vehicle that is considered a “junker,” you may now need to comply with revised city laws, if you don’t want your car or truck towed away.
During a recent meeting, the council voted unanimously to change the verbiage in the city’s ordinance that dictates when a car can be removed from a property for being a nuisance.
However, the move didn’t come about due to a reported increase in junk cars being found around town. But authorities caution that just because the language has changed in the law, this doesn’t mean that city police are going to start writing mass amounts of tickets and towing away cars they deem as a nuisance.
In fact, Woodland Park Police Chief Chris Deisler explained to council recently that the changes are needed should issues arise in the future. The way the ordinance was originally written gave law enforcement less power to remove junk vehicles, according to law enforcement authorities.
With the new, changed ordinance, the police will now have the tools to enforce the law better than they could previously. But the chief cautioned that code enforcement officers would still use their discretion. In the end, Deisler made it clear that the law change wouldn’t amount to a rise in enforcement against junk vehicles.
“Effectively, the reason why we are here is to simply change some language in the existing ordinance to allow for more effective enforcement, if the time ever comes that we have to take those measures,” Deisler told the council. “That’s it in a very, very small nutshell. I think the changes are very self-evident.”
Councilman Jeffrey Geer agreed with the changes and said that the wording needed to be different.
New Law Allows Police to Remove Junk Vehicles Easier
One of the major changes includes allowing police to remove a vehicle, if it reportedly violates any section of a list of problem criteria. Moreover, the law now better outlines what a nuisance vehicle is
According to the city’s new ordinance, the police can remove a vehicle anywhere in city limits if it is unlicensed, or it has been left unattended for 72 hours or more. A car can also be removed if it “is extensively damaged, such damage including but not limited to any of the following: a broken window, windshield or both, missing wheels, tires, motor or transmission, extensive body damage or missing body parts.”
But there is a stipulation on the damage clause of the ordinance. “Vehicles that are screened from street view and adjacent neighbors, or have a fitted cover designed for vehicles, earth tone in color, will not be considered a nuisance vehicle,” the ordinance states.
A vehicle can also be removed if it is parked in a community parking lot for 48 hours or more. “Any vehicle parked upon the roadway or in a community parking lot in violation of the prohibitions or restrictions posted on official signs,” can also be removed according to the new city ordinance.
Vehicles may be removed from a roadway or community parking lot for other reasons like putting it up for sale. “Washing, greasing, painting, or repairing a vehicle except repairs as necessitated by an emergency,” is also not allowed on roadways or community parking lots. Further, a vehicle can be removed from a roadway or community parking lot if it has a display or advertisement on it that requires a permit from the city.
Council Questions Some Aspects of New Anti-Junk Car Law
During the meeting Councilwoman Catherine Nakai was concerned about some of the language in the ordinance. She was afraid that law enforcement could take some of the verbiage too literally.
“Number 2 (in the ordinance) says ‘left unattended for 72 hours or more,’ that is pretty vague,” Nakai said. “So that means if I leave my truck in my driveway and go away for four days, can you tow it because somebody called and complained?”
Deisler answered that law enforcement agents would take other steps before jumping straight to towing vehicles away. “What I need to make sure everybody understands is that ordinance changes don’t remove common sense and fair application of laws and why the spirit of the laws are there,” Deisler said. “In any good code enforcement practice, you always start at the lowest level of enforcement, and you go progressively higher based upon the level of compliance you get from the property owner. There is intent behind everything we do. The intent behind this change is not to tow a homeowner’s car because they went on vacation.”
Deisler also said that his officers will do their due diligence to figure out why a car is parked where it is before taking action to tow the vehicles away.
