Residents angry over towing
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 14, 2014 1:50 AM
Vehicles illegally parked in the county-owned parking lots at the Wayne County Courthouse will be towed, Sheriff Larry Pierce said.
"The county requested that we start enforcing the towing ordinance that they enacted in October," Pierce said. "So over the past couple of weeks, we have had to tow several cars that were improperly parked in the county parking lot. I think there are about eight or 10 that have been towed so far.
"I want to make it clear so the public knows that we are having to enforce the ordinance so that they do not get towed. We don't want to (tow) if we don't have to. We know they are there for court, but they need to maybe give themselves a little extra time in case they have to find other parking areas because there is very limited parking in those spaces."
The ordinance regulating parking in and around the county courthouse was adopted by Wayne County commissioners in October.
It applies to county-owned parking spaces on the Courthouse Square, the parking lot on the east side of William Street across from the courthouse and jail, and the parking lot on the south side of Chestnut Street across from the jail.
It limits parking to the marked parking spaces only and regulates parking in handicapped and reserved spaces.
Vehicles not parked in a marked space or that are illegally parked in reserved or handicapped spaces will be towed, Pierce said.
The owner or operator of a towed vehicle would have to pay any towing or storage costs.
The Goldsboro Police Department does not enforce county ordinances on county property. That is the job of the Sheriff's Office, Pierce said.
While the ordinance covers the William Street parking as well as the one on Chestnut Street, most of the problem has been in the William Street lot, Pierce said.
"What happens is that people who have legally parked are being blocked in by the people who are illegally parked," Pierce said. "So when they get ready to leave, they can't leave, so then we have to have the cars towed that are illegally parked.
"It has been quite a bit of a problem, especially for what they call, 'admin. court,' which is every other Friday. There are a number of extra people who have to come to admin. court. Due to that, we have had right many problems."
There also have been problems during child support court days, he said.
"What is happening is that people are calling and complaining. Then we are having to go out there and take a look at it," Pierce said. "On admin. day, Grimes Security (that handles courthouse security) is providing one person that patrols that parking lot to try to keep it from being a problem. But he even got overwhelmed this past Friday (Dec. 5).
"There were so many people coming in and parking he got overwhelmed and couldn't keep up telling people not to park there. We just want to make the public aware that it is a problem, and we don't have any choice but to enforce the ordinance if they are illegally parked."
A lot of times, people don't realize there are extra spaces in the lot across Chestnut Street and try to park in William Street lot, Pierce said.
Parking in designated spaces will solve the problem.
There has not really been a problem with people illegally parking in reserved areas, he said.
"If we know where they are, we will try to notify them at the courthouse, but 90 percent of the time we are not going to know where they are in the courthouse," he said.
Most people are coming to the Sheriff's Office to ask about their missing vehicles.
"We do have a form that we are filling out telling them where their car will be," he said. "We are going to start leaving a copy with the security people in the atrium of the courthouse, so if they go there and ask, (security) will also have the information.
"We don't want to inconvenience the public any more than we have to, but (illegal parking) is inconveniencing the people who are legally parked in the designated parking spaces. That is who it is really causing a problem for."
It is also tying up one to two people from the Sheriff's Office.
"We don't want to do inconvenience the public or take patrol officers on the street to handle parking issues," Pierce said.