Overnight Parking Ordinance

Thank you for inviting feedback on this ordinance change. No, it is not appropriate to allow overnight street parking in Minnetonka. It appears the majority of the streets are old and narrow. Parking reduces the safety of both pedestrian and vehicle movement on the road.

Specifically Jordan avenue leading back onto Cove dr. This road would be a massive safety hazard if parking was allowed.

Parking on both sides would create a safety concern on Jordan Ave S on the west side of 169 just south of the Cedar Lake Road exit. Jordan Ave curves around and away from 169 with a blind apartment driveway making the curve tenuous to navigate as is but adding overnight parking to both sides of the street would make the curve even more dangerous. There are also many people who walk their dogs here, with no sidewalk. Parking on both sides combined with the blind driveway and careless drivers is a recipe for disaster. Prefer no overnight parking but if necessary, please only allow parking on one side of Jordan Ave S.
Thanks so much.

I agree with the need to update this ordinance. I would like to see the proposal amended to add a few items. With multiple generations now sharing households as a trend we are seeing throughout the U.S. and as confirmed by the U.S. Census, we in Minnetonka need to help make multigenerational living situations more flexible. I would propose allowing on street parking 24 hours a day IF the car has a resident parking sticker (would require an administrative process to be set up). So, if the car is from a resident in the house they should be able to apply for a parking permit to park on the street in front of their house. I have seen this process used in multiple other cities. No residential parking permit, no parking from 2-6 a.m. on a city street from November through March, same thing if you don't have a residential parking permit no parking overnight. IF you do have a residential parking permit, you can park overnight even in the winter EXCEPT when the city declares a snow emergency. Then no overnight winter parking on the street even if you have a residential parking permit for street parking. We know that on average our winters are getting warmer. This last winter, parking on a residential street with my proposed residential parking permit would not have impeded snow plows much if any. Last year (2023 winter) folks would have needed to move their residential parking permit cars several times.

I also think there should be an application to allow an overnight guest to be able to park on the street if the application is granted. This application would need to be left on the front dash of the car visible from outside. Same rules for moving during a snow emergency as for residential parking permit cars (sticker in the front or back window so as visible to parking enforcement persons). And you get your car towed if you don't follow the rules because the rules make allowances for multigenerational households and take into account when snow plowing has to occur. We in Minnetonka need to understand that housing in Minnetonka is getting more and more unaffordable for the children who grew up in our neighborhoods and now are moving onto adulthood or are in their 20's and 30's. Most of them are not going to be able to afford to purchase a home in Minnetonka to live in their home town anymore. However, they may be able to live in their hometown by living with parent(s) or siblings. This means there might be more that 2 cars at the household legitimately. Assuming more than 2 cars may need to have the third parked on the street or in the driveway, all depends on the house and driveway set up. I want to encourage the people who grew up in Minnetonka to be able to live in minnetonka in adulthood. I think proposed amendments to the current proposal would be a reasonable solution. I do realize there is a bit more administrative work involved in my proposal. However I believe that the benefits to multigenerational households which is a benefit to our community in general is worth the extra administration of a residential permit parking process and a visitor parking applicaiton process. These two extra administrative programs are not complicated, inventing the wheel things. They can be offered on line and in person at the city. Please consider these amendments as this proposed ordinance is considered. I absolutely, as a fall back position, favor the updating of the ordinance as the minimum we need to do to support multi-generational housing. I also want to say there are a lot of children moving back to Minnetonka to take care of elderly parents in the same household. The proposed ordinance, and the proposed amendments would also help this type of multigenerational household. The city of Minnetonka should support this ordinance and proposed amendment as an effort to keep our seniors in their own homes as long as possible versus sending them to nursing facilities without the support of family or interactions with community that we know is so vital for the welfare of the elderly. Thank-you for the opportunity to submit my feedback.

We agree with the majority of residents that do not want the overnight parking ordinance changed. First question, however, is: what or who precipitated consideration of this change? To have an informed opinion for feedback, residents need to know what the benefits or detriments are to the majority, what problem(s) are being solved (that cannot be solved in a less controversial and intrusive way), and what "rules" will or should be instituted and abided by for everyone to be in compliance? Our family's concerns/objections noted here:
--neighbors in our neighborhood (and hopefully most all neighborhoods?) understand when a neighbor can sometimes have a need for overnight parking in the summer, and don't have a problem with that. If it becomes a problem, all residents should be required to talk thru and sort it out directly with those not complaint. (City staff or police should not have to get involved unless it's habitual--"they ain't got time for that!")
--experience tells us those who abuse the 2-6am ordinance in the summer will be more likely to abuse it in the winter as well--thru ignorance, forgetfulness or intentionally. --Why increase likelihood for neighborhood squabbles? Are there any benefits (at this point unknown to those giving feedback) to be gained or lost, and what are they? Many of the ones that commented here that were in favor seemed to think it would be "nice" in certain situations. Can those be worked out in other ways vs. 24/7 parking?
--some (as we've experienced) will park their and their friends' or relatives' cars in front of others' houses, behind other's driveways, over the curb (so as not to get hit)--not because there's a short-term need but because they don't have enough space for multiple cars or are just insensitive to others' safe enjoyment of their own property. These practices (again based on experience) can make just backing out of their own driveway more dangerous, impeding access to mailboxes, lawn care, and so on. I believe all these issues would increase complaints to the city significantly, and what remedies are available in those cases?
---major concerns about the safety of walkers and bikers (esp. seniors and kids) as they dodge in and out of parked cars near corners/curves, cul de sacs, hills and valleys, making traffic on neighborhood streets much more dangerous. For example, a 7-year-old girl was riding her bike, hurrying to get home a few houses away, and turned her head briefly to wave at us. She ran full speed into the back of a dump truck parked in a shady low area of the street. She was rushed to emergency with a concussion, bruises and scrapes, and was terrified of riding her bike for months. And it could have been so much worse.
--Those backing out of their driveways are more likely to hit parked and/or moving cars, pedestrians and bikers when their sight lines are blocked, especially on curves or corners; this has happened to us 3 times, luckily only damage to vehicles and not humans. Real life recent example: A friend in a residential neighborhood of St. Louis Park told us recently that she couldn't back out of her driveway without hitting parked cars on both sides of her street. She resorted to asking the neighbor across the street if she could back into their driveway to get a safe angle to drive out.
--the dangers of walking or biking on our narrow neighborhood streets with cars parked 24/7 seem to be in direct conflict with the city's goal of "connecting neighborhoods" via walking or biking; so now it would be much more dangerous just to get to the millions of dollar of connecting walking and biking trails being installed for the next 20 years in Minnetonka for that purpose. Avoiding traffic around parked cars and other walkers and bikers could deter (terrify?) most anyone, esp seniors and kids, from "connecting" to other neighborhoods or for just getting to the trails for recreational purposes
--in addition, the difficulty of mail carriers, emergency vehicles, school buses, delivery and repair trucks to navigate or access houses on streets with sometimes less than one lane available; can they even do it, let alone safely?
--is this change being initiated in any part because of the proliferation of those residents adding another dwelling to their property (currently requires off-street parking) or to a problem of not enough off-street parking for multiple unit dwellings? If so, this is a problem that needs to be solved certainly, but not at the expense of safety and "neighbor unrest." Can the driving factors for this change to overnight parking be communicated before or at the beginning of the CC meeting so that community members have an opportunity to give input for alternative solutions?

Thank you for throwing this issue out for community feedback and problem-solving. It's such a consequential change to so many that the city might have had a tiger by the tail if residents had been blind-sided with a done deal without education or feedback as they were with the organics composting laws. Compliance can be legislated but buy-in cannot.

Thank you for inviting feedback on this ordinance change. No, it is not appropriate to allow overnight street parking in Minnetonka. It appears the majority of the streets are old and narrow. Parking reduces the safety of both pedestrian and vehicle movement on the road.

This ordinance proposal change would put my neighborhood at risk on Fairfield Road. Our street is already very narrow and congested with traffic from a new apartment complex and another one currently being built. If this proposed ordinance change goes into effect, I fear emergency vehicles would not be able to access our neighborhood and the number of vehicle accidents would increase. Thank you for your opportunity to provide feedback.

Thank you giving me the opportunity to comment. Please leave the parking regulations as they are today. I do not understand what led up to this new proposed regulation even being considered. An explanation would be appreciated.
Our streets have always been narrow. After the street/sewer project was completed, they got even narrower.
Please consider the following:
- Sanitation trucks, recycling trucks, lawn care, tree services, delivery vehicles, mail delivery, snow plows, city works, school buses and resident traffic trying to navigate around parked vehicles.
- Ambulances, fire trucks and public safety blocked by parked vehicles. There will be a lawsuit against the city when someone dies or a structure burns down due to being obstructed.
- Remember the crime wave a few years back. They primarily broke in to vehicles parked on the street.
- People walking (with dogs and strollers or just alone) jump up on the curb when 2 vehicles approach from different directions. And that is without parked cars.
- Think about it, with your “new proposed regulation,” anyone can have as many vehicles as they want parked on the street for 6 months straight.
Please start enforcing the current regulations.
- The street we use to get to Minnetonka Blvd has same cars/trucks, same 3 addresses parked on the road overnight. No one answers the Non-Emergency Police number before 8:00AM. There is no voice mail either.
- Regarding the 6-hour rule: Our neighbor pulls their vehicle out on to the street practically every morning, 300+ days a year (~ 7:00AM – 9:00AM) and leaves it there until (~7:00PM – 11:00). Being a cul-de-sac, that is no fun for garbage/recycling/delivery trucks, snow plows and resident traffic all day long.
You should create a separate feedback section for law enforcement, fire fighters, EMTs, sanitation/recycling providers, lawn care, school bus companies, tree services and city works. And we should be allowed to view their comments.

Parking on both sides? This would create a safety concern on Jordan Ave S on the west side of 169 just south of the Cedar Lake Road exit. Jordan Ave curves around and away from 169 with a blind apartment driveway making the curve tenuous to navigate as is but adding overnight parking to both sides of the street will make the curve very dangerous. Prefer no overnight parking but if necessary, please only allow parking on one side of Jordan Ave S. Thank you

Concern about the street parking … What if someone wants to camp out in their car in front front of someone’s house? Clothes in the back seat, sleeping in their car at night? Not a fan of over night parking for safety!

Also when our Mtka neighborhood had street reconstruction the last two years the mail carrier said he could not deliver mail to any boxes that he could not drive directly up to … He said he was not allowed to get out of his vehicle to walk up to the box with a car blocking it. The mail could go undelivered for days if some car was blocking mail carrier from driving up to the box/boxes! No to overnight street parking!

The current ordinance is just fine! Why are we encouraging this???

I don’t understand why the City of Mtka needs to “fix” something that isn’t broken? On my cul-de-sac, I can only foresee encouragement of a multitude of vehicles and trailers parked , given the generational families that live here. The waste management trucks and delivery vehicles already have to reverse, backup,reverse,backup to make it up and down my street. Additional car parking will only make it more difficult. We moved away from Mpls to get more space. PLEASE don’t ruin the good thing that you already have, MTKA!!

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed ordinance, we appreciate it. Much like the vast majority of the feedback already provided, we do not support changing the current ordinance and are struggling to understand why this would be considered or what benefit there would be to the City as a result of removing the overnight restrictions? Give the proliferation of safety issues around the metro, as well as not having any articulated benefits we can’t imagine what rationale would support the change. As a general comment there seems to be more than enough existing driveway parking for the vast majority of homes and street parking would only cause further nuisance for other neighorbors. In our area of the City many people are out walking during the summer months and this would serve to only create more obstacles to avoid for passing traffic. Please keep Minnetonka safe! Thank you.

The current ordinance is perfect so please leave it as is. You will encourage "forever" parking, more crime, and less open space with the new proposed ordinance. Further, people already put too much stuff in their yards and they will expand their storage to the streets.

I oppose the proposed ordinance. Many city streets are too narrow as is. I too suspect that some homeowners will turn the street into their personal parking lots. We have 1/2 acre lots in Minnetonka. Everyone should have plenty of room to park their extra cars in their own driveways. Allowing overnight street parking from April 30 to November 1 is a BAD idea. If the homeowner can find an off-street place to park their cars from November through April, they can do the same for the rest of the year.

I do not support the proposed ordinance, because it has the potential to create more issues (e.g. opportunity for car break-ins) than the benefit(s) it provides. Why make it more difficult to maneuver through neighborhoods on dark and narrow streets? In addition, I suspect homeowners with a lot (pun intended) of cars will make the street their personal parking lot during the permissible months. Under extenuating circumstances (e.g. house guest), if someone needs to park a car on the street overnight, they should be able to request a pass from the city. I think that's the way it is now.

Please do NOT allow parking overnight or during the day on Grays Bay blvd and surrounding streets in this neighborhood. The streets (especially Grays Bay Blvd) are already too narrow.
Currently cars can just pass in each direction. Currently when people are walking there is only 1 lane for cars. To take away that one lane for parking would mean that 2 cars cannot meet and pedestrians are at an increased risk.
The streets are for driving (not parking). Everyone has a driveway to accommodate their vehicles. To make it even more dangerous to walk on these streets is wrong.
Many of us already refer to taking a walk on Grays Bay blvd as "the death dash".
Please do not make it more dangerous.

Thank you for your work. There are many streets where this is not safe due to narrow streets. Please only consider for specific locations, not a unilateral decision. This would be problematic on Fairfield Road.

Leave the ordinance as is. On street parking is already a hazard when delivery and work trucks park to provide services to residents. The streets are too narrow to allow this and in many areas, there are no sidewalks for walkers/bikers protection. Let's not make matters worse. Sometimes it's even difficult to pull out of one's driveway when vehicles are parked on the street!

I support with restrictions, - only allow overnight parking on streets wide enough to accommodate it.

Please leave the ordinance as is -- parked cars on the street overnight is dangerous, and to enforce this would be a waste of valuable city resource.