Parking ordinance angers Apopka residents

APOPKA, Fla. — Apopka residents are demanding City Council members do something about an ordinance that is giving residents tickets for parking on the street in front of their homes.

Residents of the Piedmont Lakes community, just one of the neighborhoods being ticketed, said the ordinance has been on the books for the last year but is only recently being enforced.

It's leaving some residents with empty pockets and nowhere to put their car.

A truck could set an Apopka resident back about $40.

There's no parking in the street in order to allow fire trucks and ambulances easy access down streets.

But several residents have said some of them are getting two tickets a week.

"If you don't pay your ticket within five days it's an additional $10," said resident Allison Varble.

"It's just absurd. If I was a problem, a nuisance; I (would) understand," resident Rumi Huq said.

The city said it was a problem, which is why they passed an ordinance last July not allowing Apopka residents to park on the road so emergency vehicles could get through.

However, residents WFTV talked to said they only started getting tickets within the last few months.

Residents said the roads are big enough.

"You have situations where two families are living in the same home and so they have to share the driveway," resident Marina Huq said, who has lived in Apopka 23 years.

When residents have tried to piggyback cars in their driveway, they said they've gotten tickets for that too.

Several residents were using configurations to park their cars so they wouldn't get a ticket.

Residents packed City Council chambers demanding answers.

Council members told them and WFTV they would look for ways to tweak the ordinance.

Another council member said "conditions for emergency vehicles have improved as well as streetscapes in many neighborhoods" because of the ordinance.

Residents suggested the city allow parking on just one side of the road as a solution.

Council members will bring up the topic again at next month's meeting.

WFTV