The city council finds that establishing civil penalties for
the illegal parking of motor vehicles will promote the safety and
welfare of the residents of the Elkhart community and encourages order
to the community. It is, therefore, declared to be the policy of the
city to eliminate and prevent safety hazards and to promote order
within the Elkhart community by providing for the standards and regulations
necessary to accomplish these purposes. This article is enacted in
order to establish rules, regulations and civil penalties to minimize
possible impacts, and to promote the safety and general welfare of
the public.
(Ordinance O-09022019-2, sec. 2,
adopted 9/3/19)
This article shall apply to any motor vehicle operated within
the city limits.
(Ordinance O-09022019-2, sec. 2.1,
adopted 9/3/19)
The definitions adopted herein are aligned with those established
by the Texas Transportation Code.
(1) Authorized emergency vehicle
means:
(A) A fire department or police vehicle;
(B) A public or private ambulance operated by a person who has been issued
a license by the department of state health services;
(C) An emergency medical services vehicle:
(i) Authorized under an emergency medical services provider license issued
by the department of state health services under chapter 773, Health
and Safety Code; and
(ii)
Operating under a contract with an emergency services district
that requires the emergency medical services provider to respond to
emergency calls with the vehicle;
(D) A municipal department or public service corporation emergency vehicle
that has been designated or authorized by the governing body of a
municipality;
(E) A county-owned or county-leased emergency management vehicle that
has been designated or authorized by the appropriate official(s);
(F) A private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter or a certified emergency
medical services employee or volunteer when responding to a fire alarm
or medical emergency;
(H) An industrial emergency response vehicle, including an industrial
ambulance, when responding to an emergency, but only if the vehicle
is operated in compliance with criteria in effect September 1, 1989,
and established by the predecessor of the Texas Industrial Emergency
Services Board of the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’
Association of Texas;
(I) A vehicle of a blood bank or tissue bank, accredited or approved
under the laws of this state or the United States, when making emergency
deliveries of blood, drugs, medicines, or organs;
(J) A vehicle used for law enforcement purposes that is owned or leased
by a federal governmental entity; or
(K) A private vehicle of an employee or volunteer of a county emergency
management division in a county with a population of more than 46,500
and less than 48,000 that is designated as an authorized emergency
vehicle by the commissioner’s court of that county.
(2) Bicycle
means a device that a person may ride and that
is propelled by human power and has two tandem wheels at least one
of which is more than 14 inches in diameter.
(3) Bus
means:
(A) A motor vehicle used to transport persons and designed to accommodate
more than 10 passengers, including the operator; or
(B) A motor vehicle, other than a taxicab, designed and used to transport
persons for compensation.
(4) Farm tractor
means a motor vehicle designed and used
primarily as a farm implement to draw an implement of husbandry, including
a plow or a mowing machine.
(5) House trailer
means a trailer or semitrailer, other
than a towable recreational vehicle, that:
(A) Is transportable on a highway in one or more sections;
(B) Is less than 45 feet in length, excluding tow bar, while in the traveling
mode;
(C) Is built on a permanent chassis;
(D) Is designed to be used as a dwelling or for commercial purposes if
connected to required utilities; and
(E) Includes plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems.
(6) Implement of husbandry
means:
(A) A vehicle, other than a passenger car or truck, that is designed
and adapted for use as a farm implement, machinery, or tool for tilling
the soil;
(B) A towed vehicle that transports to the field and spreads fertilizer
or agricultural chemicals; or
(C) A motor vehicle designed and adapted to deliver feed to livestock.
(7) Light truck
means a truck, including a pickup truck,
panel delivery truck, or carryall truck, that has a manufacturer’s
rated carrying capacity of 2,000 pounds or less.
(8) Moped
means a motor-driven cycle that cannot attain
a speed in one mile of more than 30 miles per hour and the engine
of which:
(A) Cannot produce more than two-brake horsepower; and
(B) If an internal combustion engine, has a piston displacement of 50
cubic centimeters or less and connects to a power drive system that
does not require the operator to shift gears.
(9) Motorcycle
means a motor vehicle, other than a tractor,
that is equipped with a rider’s saddle and designed to have
when propelled not more than three wheels on the ground.
(10) Motor-driven cycle
means a motorcycle equipped with
a motor that has an engine piston displacement of 250 cubic centimeters
or less. The term does not include an electric bicycle.
(11) Motor vehicle
means a self-propelled vehicle or a vehicle
that is propelled by electric power from overhead trolley wires. The
term does not include an electric bicycle or an electric personal
assistive mobility device, as defined by [Transportation Code] section
551.201.
(11-a) Multifunction school activity bus
means
a motor vehicle that was manufactured in compliance with the federal
motor vehicle safety standards for school buses in effect on the date
of manufacture other than the standards requiring the bus to display
alternately flashing red lights and to be equipped with movable stop
arms, and that is used to transport preprimary, primary, or secondary
students on a school-related activity trip other than on routes to
and from school. The term does not include a school bus, a school
activity bus, a school-chartered bus, or a bus operated by a mass
transit authority.
(12) Passenger car
means a motor vehicle, other than a motorcycle,
used to transport persons and designed to accommodate 10 or fewer
passengers, including the operator.
(13) Pole trailer
means a vehicle without motive power:
(A) Designed to be drawn by another vehicle and secured to the other
vehicle by pole, reach, boom, or other security device; and
(B) Ordinarily used to transport a long or irregularly shaped load, including
poles, pipes, or structural members, generally capable of sustaining
themselves as beams between the supporting connections.
(13-a) Police vehicle
means a vehicle used
by a peace officer, as defined by article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure,
for law enforcement purposes that:
(A) Is owned or leased by a governmental entity;
(B) Is owned or leased by the police department of a private institution
of higher education that commissions peace officers under section
51.212, Education Code; or
(C) Is:
(i)
A private vehicle owned or leased by the peace officer; and
(ii)
Approved for use for law enforcement purposes by the head of
the law enforcement agency that employs the peace officer, or by that
person’s designee, provided that use of the private vehicle
must, if applicable, comply with any rule adopted by the city council
or commissioners court of a county under section 170.001, Local Government
Code, and that the private vehicle may not be considered an authorized
emergency vehicle for exemption purposes under section 228.054, 284.070,
366.178, or 370.177, Transportation Code, unless the vehicle is marked.
(14) Road tractor
means a motor vehicle designed and used
to draw another vehicle but not constructed to carry a load independently
or a part of the weight of the other vehicle or its load.
(15) School activity bus
means a bus designed to accommodate
more than 15 passengers, including the operator, that is owned, operated,
rented, or leased by a school district, county school, open-enrollment
charter school, regional education service center, or shared services
arrangement and that is used to transport public school students on
a school-related activity trip, other than on routes to and from school.
The term does not include a chartered bus, a bus operated by a mass
transit authority, a school bus, or a multifunction school activity
bus.
(16) School bus
means a motor vehicle that was manufactured
in compliance with the federal motor vehicle safety standards for
school buses in effect on the date of manufacture and that is used
to transport pre-primary, primary, or secondary students on a route
to or from school or on a school-related activity trip other than
on routes to and from school. The term does not include a school-chartered
bus, or a bus operated by a mass transit authority.
(17) Semitrailer
means a vehicle with or without motive power,
other than a pole trailer:
(A) Designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and to transport persons
or property; and
(B) Constructed so that part of the vehicle’s weight and load rests
on or is carried by another vehicle.
(18) Special mobile equipment
means a vehicle that is not
designed or used primarily to transport persons or property and that
is only incidentally operated on a highway. The term:
(A) Includes ditchdigging apparatus, well boring apparatus, and road
construction and maintenance machinery, including an asphalt spreader,
bituminous mixer, bucket loader, tractor other than a truck tractor,
ditcher, levelling grader, finishing machine, motor grader, road roller,
scarifier, earth-moving carryall and scraper, power shovel or dragline,
or self-propelled crane and earth-moving equipment; and
(B) Excludes a vehicle that is designed to transport persons or property
and that has machinery attached, including a house trailer, dump truck,
truck-mounted transit mixer, crane, and shovel.
(19) Towable recreational vehicle
means a nonmotorized vehicle
that:
(A) Is designed:
(i)
To be towable by a motor vehicle; and
(ii)
For temporary human habitation for uses including recreational
camping or seasonal use;
(B) Is permanently built on a single chassis;
(C) May contain one or more life-support systems; and
(D) May be used permanently or temporarily for advertising, selling,
displaying, or promoting merchandise or services, but is not used
for transporting property for hire or for distribution by a private
carrier.
(20) Trailer
means a vehicle, other than a pole trailer,
with or without motive power:
(A) Designed to be drawn by a motor vehicle and to transport persons
or property; and
(B) Constructed so that no part of the vehicle’s weight and load
rests on the motor vehicle.
(21) Truck
means a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained
primarily to transport property.
(22) Truck tractor
means a motor vehicle designed and used
primarily to draw another vehicle but not constructed to carry a load
other than a part of the weight of the other vehicle and its load.
(23) Vehicle
means a device that can be used to transport
or draw persons or property on a highway. The term does not include:
(A) A device exclusively used on stationary rails or tracks; or
(B) Manufactured housing as that term is defined by chapter 1201, Occupations
Code.
(24) Electric bicycle
means a bicycle that:
(A) Is designed to be propelled by an electric motor, exclusively or
in combination with the application of human power;
(B) Cannot attain a speed of more than 20 miles per hour without the
application of human power; and
(C) Does not exceed a weight of 100 pounds.
(Ordinance O-09022019-2, sec. 3,
adopted 9/3/19)
(a) The city incorporates herein the rules and regulations set forth
in the Texas Transportation Code as attached to Ordinance O-09022019-2,
and shall create and adopt the additional following rules and regulations
set forth by the city council.
(b) Incorporation of Texas Transportation Code: See the attachment to
Ordinance O-09022019-2.
Editor’s note–The attachment to Ordinance
O-09022019-2 is not provided herein but is maintained on file in the
offices of the city.
(Ordinance O-09022019-2, secs. 3,
3.1 adopted 9/3/19)
It shall be unlawful to park any vehicle as defined in section
11.03.003 hereinabove, or to allow any vehicle as described in section
11.03.003 hereinabove, to stop and stand on any street within the limits of the city, unless the right side of said vehicle is parallel to the curb of said street and unless both side wheels of said vehicle nearest said curb are at a distance no greater than 12 inches from said curb.
(Ordinance O-09022019-2, sec. 3.2,
adopted 9/3/19)
Violations of this article, and/or any rule or regulation set
forth under the Texas Transportation Code as adopted here, shall be
assessed a civil penalty (parking ticket) in the amount of $50.00.
Each day’s continuing violation shall be a separate and distinct
offense. In the event the vehicle is not impounded, notice of violation
and assessment of civil penalty may be delivered to the offender in
person, or may be mailed by registered or certified mail to the last
known address of the registered owner of the vehicle. If the offender
fails to pay the penalty within ten days after being cited for a violation,
the penalty may be recovered in a civil action in the nature of debt.
Nothing herein shall preclude filing a complaint against the violator
in any court of appropriate jurisdiction.
(Ordinance O-09022019-2, sec. 4,
adopted 9/3/19)
(a) Impoundment
. Notwithstanding any civil penalty, any
vehicle found standing or parked in violation of any regulation of
the city, or any vehicle abandoned and left in any public place, or
any wrecked or disabled vehicle that constitutes a traffic hazard,
shall be immediately removed by a police officer or other person duly
authorized and acting under and by authority and direction of any
member of the city, and impounded at the towing facility selected
by authorized personnel, with all charges for towing and storage cast
by said facility being cast upon the owner of said vehicle. Any charges
incurred by the city for said tow shall be reimbursed directly to
the city and any funds received by the city for said penalty shall
be deposited into the general fund of the city.
(b) Storage fee
. A storage fee shall be billed for each
day after the first 24 hours such vehicle remains under the control
and in the possession of the city’s duly authorized agent and
shall be collected by the authorized agent before the impounded vehicle
is released.
(c) Towing fee
. The towing fee shall be billed to the city
by the towing company (wrecker) and shall be collected by the code
enforcement department, or its duly authorized agent, before the impounded
vehicle is released.
(d) Fees cumulative
. All towing and storage fees shall
be cumulative of any penalty provided for the violation of the regulation
under which any vehicle is removed and impounded.
(Ordinance O-09022019-2, sec. 5,
adopted 9/3/19)
It shall be unlawful for any operator to stop, stand or park
any vehicle upon a street, other than an alley, in such manner or
under such conditions as to leave available less than ten feet of
the width of the roadway free for movement of vehicular traffic, except
[during the actual loading or unloading] of passengers or when necessary
in obedience to traffic regulations or traffic signs or signals or
a police officer.
(1984 Code, sec. 14.10)
It shall be unlawful for any person to park any motor or other
vehicle on any street designated a fire lane.
(1984 Code, sec. 14.12)
The operator of a vehicle shall observe all “parking”
and “no parking” signs in front of and on the sides of
businesses in the city.
(1984 Code, sec. 14.13)
Ordinances designating streets, parts of streets or other areas
as no-parking or restricted parking areas are on file in the city
secretary’s office. Such ordinances are specifically saved from
repeal upon adoption of the Code of Ordinances.
(Ordinance adopting 2023 Code)