NK supervisors amending fire lane parking for 2nd time

For the second time in less than a year, New Kent’s Board of Supervisors is revising county law with regard to motor vehicles parked illegally in lanes reserved for fire and emergency vehicles.

A year ago, a New Kent General District Court judge noted the county law, as written then, had no means of enforcement and treated illegal parking as a criminal offense rather than a traffic violation. Last winter, supervisors amended the law, but now that same judge is questioning the fairness of the revised penalty adopted by the board.

As it now reads, anyone found guilty in court is subject to a $150 fine. But there is also a clause whereby a defendant can waive a court appearance by paying a $100 fine. Judge Jeffrey Shaw says that is unfair.

“Judge Shaw is not happy with the fine imbalance,” County Attorney Michele Gowdy told supervisors during their June 30 work session. “It’s treating people differently and essentially punishing them for coming in to court.”

Gowdy said the judge has been imposing a $100 fine on those convicted in court.

Thus, supervisors have scheduled a public hearing for next Monday’s (July 12) meeting on amending the law to impose a uniform $100 fine and drop the clause calling for a $150 fine for those convicted in court.

In June 2009, Shaw discovered discrepancies in the law after county sheriff’s personnel began cracking down on trucks parked illegally in fire lanes at the Pilot truck stop on Route 106 and those case began landing in court.

The judge tossed out the cases, forcing the sheriff’s office to refrain from enforcing the law until an amended version could be approved. The amendment process did not begin until December.

Supervisors are expected to take final action on amending the penalty section of the law following next week’s public hearing.

In another matter at the June 30 work session, supervisors met the head of the planning, design, and engineering firm hired by the Virginia Department of Transportation to consult on development of  “small area plans” for Bottoms Bridge and Providence Forge.

New Kent has been awarded a $150,000 VDOT grant for the process.

Frank Cox, president of the Charlottesville-based Cox Company, told supervisors, “This is a nice opportunity on VDOT’s dime to do local planning, and it does not require you to do rezoning.”

Final plans, expected to be ready for supervisors’ approval next summer, should feature one or more concepts on how the Bottoms Bridge and Providence Forge areas will appear in 20 years, Cox said.

The public is expected to have opportunity to weigh in on the planning process sometime in October or November.

In other matters, Fire Chief Tommy Hicks reported that since his office took over revenue recovery for emergency services billing from a private company in March, the county has collected 100 percent of 152 claims through May, resulting in $85,207.

Earlier, supervisors had voted to dissolve the county’s contract with the outside agency after it became apparent the company was not living up to terms of the contract when it came to collecting claims and forwarding revenue to the county.

Also on June 30, supervisors learned that the county Board of Equalization, which recently concluded hearing on challenges to the county’s latest property reassessment, entertained 290 appeals, but made changes on only three. All three involved residential property resulting in a total value reduction of $82,500.