Riverside City Council mulls restricting parking near mailboxes
Those living in Riverside could soon have to make sure they do not park in front of someone else’s mailbox within a determined amount of feet or they could possibly face a citation.
Riverside City Council plans to vote Thursday night on whether people can or cannot park within 10 feet of mailboxes within the city.
News Center 7′s Kayla McDermott spoke about this proposal with the Mayor of Riverside, Pete Williams, before the meeting about what this measure means for its community members.
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Those living in the city have addressed the city council in the past about not having their mail delivered because mail carriers cannot access the mailbox because it was blocked. Those affected by this asked the city council how they could work to make sure they could get their mail.
“Talking with the city staff, with our police, and looking at what the Ohio law requires or guidance they may or may not give and what the federal law requires or guidance they may or may not give. We came up with a solution. We hope that will help these folks work around those issues should they pop up again,” Williams said.
The proposed solution requires neighbors to not park within 10 feet of a mailbox that is not their own between the hours of 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
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“We’re not going to prohibit someone from parking in front of their own property. We would hope to folks that’s a pretty easy solution, but we don’t want people to not receive their mail because of actions that are outside of their control,” Williams said.
Some streets within the city offer limited street parking, and this proposal has caused some to express concerns that they may have to find somewhere else to park.
“We want to make sure that we’re flexible. In this case, we want to look at what makes most sense for some of these areas and how can we help those folks and it’s another another way that our enforcement capabilities can help those people get something that all of us rely on, which is our daily mail,” Williams said.
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If the city council passes this measure, it will go into effect 30 days from March 16. Once the measure is fully enacted, and if someone parks in front of your mailbox that prohibits mail from being delivered, you are encouraged to call the police and report it.
“An officer would be able to come out to the scene assess, and if they need to issue a citation, they would. We’re hoping that this is able to be corrected by having this enforcement capability. We certainly don’t want to be punitive, but we also don’t want people to go without something that everyone takes for granted, which is getting your mail everyday,” Williams said.
Although this is not a common thing to enact, Riverside is not the first city around the Miami Valley to do this. Beavercreek, Fairborn, and Eaton also have similar measures in place.
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The City of Eaton ordinance requires 15 feet in either direction of the mailbox Monday - Saturday between 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Beavercreek does not allow parking in front of or within 20 feet of a mailbox, and Fairborn does not allow parking within five feet of a community mailbox (four or more mailboxes grouped together).
