Politics & Government

Council Holds Off on Bill to Impound Vehicles, Votes to Streamline Appeals

Legislators have yet to vote on the "open/closed" chart that determines whether developments can proceed.

The Howard County Council Monday held off on a bill that would allow police to impound a legally parked car if the vehicle has more than one unpaid citation that is 90 days old.

The bill, sponsored by Council President Calvin Ball, was introduced last month. At a public hearing, Ball said that as of Aug. 31, there were more than 5,200 unpaid citations in Howard County.

He addressed concerns raised by residents, including a worry that citations from other areas would lead to an impound. Ball said that Maryland has no way of knowing if cars have parking violations from other jurisdictions, so that would not be an issue. 

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Citations are handled by the finance department, Ball said, not police. 

“For those who are concerned that it might be too strict as it does not give the vehicle owner sufficient time to satisfy the original fine,” he said the Department of Finance gives plenty of notice.

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“While I do concede it is possible for a person to overlook an initial ticket and the first reminder,” Ball said, “a resident would have had to ignore a total of four notifications from the county attempting to satisfy an unpaid citation,” before worrying about having his or her car impounded.

The bill was submitted partially in response to a resident in Elkridge who had complained about illegally parked trucks in residential neighborhoods.

Also on Monday

The council also held off on voting on a bill that would have the Board of Appeals make decisions based on previously submitted evidence, rather than hold new hearings, as it sometimes does now. The board hears appeals of administrative decisions by county agencies and zoning variances, among other items.

A bill that would disband the Cemetery Preservation Advisory Commission, which has not met since 2001, was withdrawn.

The council voted unanimously to approve the Howard County School Board’s requested 2013 capital budget so that it could be submitted to the Interagency Committee on School Construction.

It did not, however, vote on the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance chart, which determines whether development can proceed based on infrastructure.

The council voted unanimously to pass a bill that called for the Howard County ethics code to be updated to be “at least” as stringent as the requirements for state officials. All jurisdictions in Maryland must update their ethics codes similarly. Read the updated code here.  


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