Guaranteed ways to evade gameday parking citations

By Lt. Steve Brock, CSPD Public Information Officer

Texas A&M football weekends are a busy and exciting time in our community — especially around Kyle Field — but thousands of football fans also need to park and make it to the game by kickoff.

To help you avoid parking citations and thoroughly enjoy the Aggie victories, here are a few things you should know.

Yard parking can be costly

It’s illegal to operate a business in a residential neighborhood in College Station, and selling parking spaces in your yard is considered a business. Most people know that parking on the grass isn’t allowed, yet some still try to sell game day spaces in their yards.

Visitors who pay to park in these areas unwittingly break the law because they are unaware of the restrictions. That’s bad enough, but property owners who engage in this practice can receive fines of up to $2,000 per offense.

Why does it matter?

Here are a few reasons why property owners aren’t allowed to rent our parking spaces in their yards:

• Vehicles parked in the grass can impede emergency personnel responding to a fire.
• In dry conditions, a spark from a vehicle can ignite a grass fire that can spread to other vehicles and surrounding structures.
• Oil and other chemicals leaking from parked cars can seep into our underground water supply and cause environmental damage.

Safety concerns have also led the city to prohibit parking on one side of narrow streets, especially in older neighborhoods. If cars park on both sides of these streets, fire trucks and ambulances may have difficulty responding to emergencies.

Our most common violations

Here are the 10 most frequent parking transgressions we see not just on gamedays but throughout the year. The first five are mandated by state law, while the rest are violations of city ordinances:

STATE LAW

1. Parking within 30 feet of a traffic control device such as a stop sign, yield sign or flashing light.
2. Parking facing traffic — your car must always be parked in the direction of traffic flow.
3. Parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant.
4. Parking within 20 feet of a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
5. Parking in a handicap space without a handicap placard (this one will cost you $325!).

CITY ORDINANCE

6. Parking on a yard.
7. Parking at expired meters.
8. Overstaying allotted time periods in time-limited parking.
9. Parking in loading zones.
10. Blocking driveways so residents can’t get in or out.

If you avoid those 10 things, we guarantee a parking citation won’t spoil your gameday experience.

Thanks, and Gig ‘em!

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