The Muncie City Council announced Monday that they plan to enforce a strict parking law on streets surrounding Ball State's campus this fall.
Council members say that even streets without "no parking" signs are subject to this law, which bans parking along streets without curbs. Building Commissioner Jerry Friend said violations of the law could result in fines as well as court costs.
Friend said that his office would fine illegally parked cars from the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but the Muncie and University police departments have jurisdiction to fine after these hours.
The council passed the parking law in 2002 to deal with disputes between Muncie residents and Ball State commuters who were parking illegally, but Muncie residents say that the city has not enforced the ordinance.
"The law was designed to prevent people from parking in the right-of-way," Friend said.
Muncie residents brought a new proposal before the council Monday suggesting that the city erect "no parking" signs on streets where illegal commuter parking has become a problem, despite the laws in place to prevent it.
According to residents, the most problematic streets around campus are Riverside, Ashland, Locust, Beachwood and University avenues and North Street.
Sam Marshall, supervisor for the Muncie City Street Department, said the law is already enforceable, and the city does not need signs to be able to ticket illegally parked cars.
"It's kind of redundant to have signs when you already have a law in place," Marshall said. "Ball State students are going to school to learn, so hopefully they can learn where to park."
At the meeting, disputes arose between residents, landlords and other property owners who could not agree on the way the city should handle the situation. Marshall said that under the current parking code, residents can be fined for parking illegally in front of their own homes.
"The neighbors, students, and landlords need to come to a happy medium," Marshall said. "They need to find a common ground, and I think that common ground is to fine violators."
Friend said that commuter students should take advantage of parking structures on campus rather than parking illegally on side streets.
"The Student Center parking garage is so under-used, it stinks," Friend said. "Students need to utilize parking facilities on campus."
Marshall said that neither the new ordinance regarding street signs nor the enforcement of the parking code should affect commuter students if they obey parking laws.
"Ball State students have the football parking lot and the shuttles," Marshall said. "They are visitors to the city of Muncie, and we appreciate them being here, but they have to abide by the same parking laws as in their hometowns."
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