A proposal before Topeka’s governing body seeks to promote aesthetics and keep front yards from becoming “junk sites,” City Councilman Mike Lesser said Tuesday evening.
But Councilman Tony Emerson voiced concern that the measure would basically outlaw gravel driveways and “have a devastating effect on hundreds and hundreds of houses.”
The governing body, consisting of the nine council members and Mayor Michelle De La Isla, discussed but took no action on the proposal, which would amend city rules regarding parking on unpaved surfaces.
Those rules currently allow vehicles or machinery to be parked on a residential lot for “any period of time” only if the area used for parking is “improved with at least four inches of rock, gravel, paver brick, asphalt or concrete.”
The proposal before the governing body would replace the latter 14-word phrase with the word “paved.”
Read more: CJonline.