Next steps for Tracy Park traffic enforcement

Discussions continue about the Tracy Park traffic problems and how to enforce some potential improvements. 

Following up with a presentation given by a group from the Newton Avenue neighborhood at the Oct. 15 Hill City Common Council meeting, the planning and zoning commission (PZC) invited the group to share its concerns at the Oct. 21 PZC meeting. 

The neighbors again presented their concerns about traffic congestion, parking, the impact of events, bicyclists crossing private property and being physically and verbally accosted. 

An additional meeting was held Oct. 31 with public works director Justin Asher, city staff and a PZC member who lives in the neighborhood. The group determined that several actions could be taken immediately or by April 2025 before the start of the tourist season. 

According to the PZC report, the first recommendation was to paint the curbs red from Railroad Avenue down Poplar Street, onto Newton Avenue and terminating at Spruce Street. Other suggestions included painting a white line to show the end of the parking spaces and the start of the right-of-way, striping a centerline on Newton Avenue to show it is a two-way street, stenciling images of bikes on the sidewalk heading north and adding no parking signage on both sides of Newton Avenue and Spruce Street. 

Furthermore, the PZC recommended contacting bike rental companies and event planners of Mickelson Trail events regarding this issue and requiring a member of staff to be on site at the trailhead during events they represent. This would be a requirement for special events that the council would approve. 

On the topic of getting more Mickelson Trail signage, developmental services coordinator Dani Schade said, “Due to our agreement with Game, Fish and Parks, signage is their responsibility so we can get them to pay for it.”

Other recommendations included contacting the school regarding the use of their parking lot on Newton Avenue for loading and unloading bikes and finally working with the Pennington County Sherriff’s Office (PCSO) to amend current ordinances to allow it to enforce city right-of-way and traffic signs. 

“That’s what we thought we could do cheap, quick and be fairly effective,” said Schade. 

At the Nov. 12 Hill City Common Council meeting, the PCSO was asked to inform the council what they needed to see in the city’s ordinances to enforce them. 

Sgt. Amanda Swanson said, “What I would encourage you guys to do is to get with the city attorney. Basically, you need to update a lot of the ordinances. You guys do have some stuff in there as far as Main Street parking and stuff like that, but there is nothing clarifying what you can do anywhere else.” 

Should the ordinances get updated, Swanson said the department could address certain areas more. Right now, it can address public-right-of-way issues. 

“There are state statutes for that, but ultimately the state’s going to refer back to the city. That’s why I would definitely encourage you guys to reach out to your city attorney. It’s a long process once you guys get those ordinances set up and sit down, and then I would come and meet with you and we would have this conversation in a group. At least we would have a better plan in place that we can talk out in the open,” said Swanson. 

Alderman Ethan Walker asked if the city would need an ordinance to paint the curb red or put up parking signs. Swanson said there are certain laws about street signs and she would encourage the city to talk to a parking engineer and their attorney about all of the right approaches. She also recommended the City of Rapid City as a resource. 

“Well, we’re going to start on all our ordinances as of the first of the year so we’ll make sure that that’s one of the first ones we start dealing with,” said mayor Tana Nichols. “We want to address that issue over there as quick as possible and get it all ready before next season.” 

“What kind of a no parking sign do you need to be able to enforce it?” asked Walker. 

“Once you have an ordinance out there, then it’s something we can enforce. You just have to have an ordinance for it. If you just put out a sign and say ‘no parking,’ we can’t just go put out a parking ticket. We have to have ordinances in place for it,” said Swanson. 

PZC commissioner Scooter Prosneski asked if deputies could enforce a red curb labeled no parking no matter what instead of having a city ordinance. 

“If it was anywhere else, wouldn’t you probably police that area that ‘Hey, there’s no parking here,’ whether we got a sign?” asked Prosneski. 

Prosneski said PZC’s goal was to get its plan to PCSO so the officers could provide direction as to what they needed to enforce parking. That way they could work together. 

“It’s just gotten so out of hand. We need to try to do something and move forward with it. Some of it is going to take months and stuff like that,” Prosneski said. “I can send you our plan of some of the ideas that we’re doing. Now whatever ordinance we don’t have on the books, maybe you can guide us to help us, advise us to put an ordinance on the books.”

Prosneski continued saying, “Our hands our kind of tied in a sense, and the neighborhood is really tired of it with all that’s been going on and stuff in that area.” 

The PZC is trying to address things by next spring before the bicycles and events start coming again. 

“It’s just total chaos around the park. It’s just out of hand,” said Prosneski. 

“It’s time to help them move along,” said Asher. 

Prosneski said they are trying to figure out what the city can do and needs to do to have law enforcement help with the situation. 

“I think it’s a great idea to do it together, but like I said, I would encourage you to reach out to your city attorney in starting the conversation,” said Swanson. “We just all have to be on the same page, and we can work together. It’s just a slow process, but we just have to start at the beginning, unfortunately. But I just think the first thing is we have to start on the ordinances.” 

Prosneski invited the officers in attendance to stop by Hill City Cycles so he could show them the PZC’s plans and said he was open to any ideas they might have. 

Nichols said, “This council is all about getting this done by springtime. And like I said, we are going to hit all our ordinances. It’s hard for us to know what we’re looking for or missing yet.” 

Walker clarified the PCSO enforces by ordinances. Swanson said it enforces state statutes too. 

“Because of it falling in the city and you guys wanting specific things, we just need to have a city ordinance to do that. There are certain things obviously we can do on the roadways through the state, but whether the state wants to pursue it because it falls in the city, it’s just a very long process. That’s why it’s just easier to work with the city attorney,” said Swanson. 

“In our conversations with (PCSO senior deputy) Jim (Waldrop), we were hoping you guys had some ideas already without having to go through an attorney since we generally write our ordinances ourselves versus having that expense. I just assume if it was in state law that you guys could also enforce it in the city limits, and I understand that that is not true,” said Schade. 

Schade said she would look at Rapid City’s ordinances, and asked, “Is there any other cities that don’t have their own police department that you guys contract with that have those proper ordinances to be able to give tickets to these people?”

Swanson said Keystone does have parking tickets, but it is not as specific as what Hill City is looking for. It would also depend on what the city wants the result to be whether that is fines, court or other things. 

Schade said the city wanted to hit offenders hard with money and do nothing that required an attorney. 

“If we have to have our own ticketing system, we can implement that,” said Schade. 

Swanson reiterated that a city ordinance would be the best route because “the state won’t prosecute anything if it is within the city.”

“Okay, so then we’ll move forward without a city attorney involvement as far as I’m concerned because that just muddies the waters and takes more time. So I think implementing what the city can do from a public works perspective might be great while we’re waiting for all the ordinances to be rewritten. That sounds like a good plan to move forward with,” said Schade. 

Walker asked if an officer could ask people to move along if they were parked along a red curb. Swanson said there was a state statute for illicit and abandoned vehicles and after 24 hours she could tag it and start the process for having it towed. 

As a courtesy, Waldrop said they could ask the driver to move if present, but it’s not enforceable without an ordinance. When they can tow cars is another gray area according to Waldrop, along with getting people to pay the ticket. 

Waldrop said it is a “double-edged sword.” They can ticket people, but those people might go to the event manager if they believe they were not in the wrong, which could give some awareness. 

“But in the long run, throwing tickets on these cars is kind of a band-aid. We really need to work with the event organizers and make sure we stay on top of them. And the potential for, depending on the big events, do we need alternative places where they stage? Have some of those events outgrown?

“Because at the end of the day, we’re not going to tow all these vehicles. They may or may not pay their tickets. If they choose not to pay the tickets, it’s going to come down to the city and the city attorney of what they’re going to want to do and not do. It’s gonna really be out of our hands when we’re writing tickets on ordinances,” said Waldrop. 

Prosneski suggested the city keep it simple at first saying he would like to think most people would gain traffic awareness through the PZC’s proposed projects. Prosneski hoped that people would be aware of the no parking zones and respect the officers’ authority. He said he was trying to start bringing some organization to the street.

Waldrop agreed with the awareness concept saying, “Increased awareness and work with event coordinators I think are our two best approaches for overall success.” 

When it comes to chaotic events, Waldrop said he could go down, figure out who is in charge and get them to a point of contact person at the city. 

“If we start managing the people that are having the big events, I think it’ll work itself out,” said Waldrop. 

Alderwoman Lori Miner said, “There are some big events that don’t come to the city because they’re not required to such as the Big Mick or the Mickelson Trail Trek. They’re not required to come to the city because all they’re doing is coming to a public park. They’re not having an event. We’re not blocking streets. We’re not having a sound permit. There are multiple things from our criteria that they can just come and enjoy the park. Unfortunately, they’re coming en masse and on bicycles.” 

With the new things the PZC would like to implement, Prosneski hoped people would follow the posted directions. 

Circling back to the recommendation for using an attorney, alderman Justin Thiry said, “I assume your recommendation to use a city attorney is because you’re making law. So if you’re going to give somebody a ticket, and they come back and I wrote the ordinance, they’re going to be able to tear it apart pretty easy with a lawyer.”

Waldrop said it comes down to the prosecution circle. Typically, the standard for parking issues would be a city ordinance with enforcement going through the city attorney if contested. 

Nichols thanked everyone for the reports and said they wanted to get things taken care of by spring.