Politics & Government

Lakeville Police Issue High Number of Winter Parking Tickets

The Lakeville Police Department has recently issued several winter parking ordinance violation tickets.

Since Nov. 1, the Lakeville Police Department has issued hundreds of tickets for violations of the city’s winter parking ordinance. Meanwhile, neighboring cities, such as Apple Valley and Rosemount have issued a handful each.

Lakeville's ordinance states that on-street parking is prohibited from Nov. 1 through April 1 between the hours of 2-6 a.m. The ordinance also forbids street parking when there are 2 or more inches of snow on the ground before streets and alleys are plowed.

“We would love not to not have to issue any tickets,” said Tom Vonhof, chief of the Lakeville Police Department.

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On Nov. 21, 14 winter parking tickets were issued. 22 tickets were issued on Nov. 30 and 10 were issued on Dec. 2. Nearly a dozen were issued on many other days. Meanwhile, in Apple Valley, just four tickets were issued up until the most recent snowfall on Dec. 4, and Rosemount had issued 7.

“We’re larger, just in land size, meaning we have more roadways and more streets,” said Vonhof.

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The City of Lakeville is responsible for plowing 260 miles of roadway, totaling 600 lane miles. Preventing snow removal by parking on the street during prohibited hours is costly to the city, since replowing is very expensive. It is also unsafe and can lead to the narrowing of roadways, the chief said.

The base fine for a winter parking ticket is $20, according to Gena Jones, court operations manager for the Dakota County District Court.

In 2011, the county court system provided Lakeville with $275,877 in fine-related funds. This revenue went into the city’s general fund and comprised 1.3 percent of the general fund total revenue of $20,156,490, according to Dennis Feller, finance director for the city.

The revenue raised from winter parking tickets is included in these funds, but Feller couldn't pinpoint exactly how much was from parking tickets.


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