Proposed Ordinance #1

Silly ordinance, it was agreed.

Manitou Springs City Council has proposed three(3) ordinances to the Soda Springs Park Safety Task Force. These ordinances are supposed to make the park safer for everyone, cut down on crime, etc. If the Task Force accepts any of the ordinances, it will then go to Council and they will vote during the next City Council Meeting. Here is the first ordinance that was proposed by Matt Carpenter (Mayor Pro-Tem, City Council Ward 3):






COUNCIL BILL NO. ____

ORDINANCE NO. ____

ORDINANCE AN ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING HOURS OF USE FOR THE CITY’S PUBLIC PARKS ______________

WHEREAS, the City Council understands the need to limit the hours of use of the City’s public parks; and

WHEREAS, limiting the hours of use of the City’s public parks is beneficial to the safety and welfare of the citizens of the City of Manitou Springs; and

WHEREAS, the City Council desires to revise the hours of use of the City’s public parks. NOW,

THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF MANITOU SPRINGS, COLORADO, THAT: Section 1: [Existing Code: 12.24.010 – Use of facilities—Hours prohibited. Use of playground equipment and other facilities in city parks is prohibited between the hours of eleven p.m. and six a.m. Strategy 1: Dusk to Dawn. (Dusk to Dawn has legal meaning and has been used for other ordinances.) Strategy 2: Summer Hours/Winter Hours.] Section 12.24.010 of the Manitou Springs Municipal Code is hereby repealed and re- enacted as follows: 12.24.010 – Use of facilities—Hours prohibited. Use of playground equipment and other facilities in city parks is prohibited between XXX and XXX [***from XXX to XXX and between XXX and XXX from XXX to XXX***]. Section 2: Section 3: If any article, section, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of the ordinance is held to be unconstitutional or invalid for any reason, such decision shall not affect the validity or constitutionality of the remaining portion of this ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each part or parts hereof irrespective of the fact that any one part or parts be declared unconstitutional or invalid. The repeal or modification of any provision of Manitou Springs Municipal Code by this ordinance shall not release, extinguish, alter, modify or change in whole or Section 4: in part any penalty, forfeiture or liability, either civil or criminal, which shall have been incurred under such provision. Each provision shall be treated and held as still remaining in force for the purpose of sustaining any and all proper actions, suits, proceedings and prosecutions for enforcement of the penalty, forfeiture or liability, as well as for the purpose of sustaining any judgment, decree or order which can or may be rendered, entered or made in such actions, suits, proceedings or prosecutions. This ordinance shall take effect five (5) days after final approval and adoption on second reading. Passed on First Reading and Ordered Published this XXX day of XXX, 2012. /s/ Donna Kast City Clerk A Public Hearing on this ordinance will be held at the XXX XXX, 2012 City Council meeting. The Council Meeting will be held at 7:00 P.M. at City Hall, 606 Manitou Avenue, Manitou Springs, Colorado. Ordinance Published: XXX, 2012 (in full). City’s Official Website and at City Hall
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All those X's, as well as the "Solutions" are because this is a rough draft. I know what you're probably thinking: "What will changing park hours do? People don't commit crime during certain hours, they will commit crime either during park hours or after park hours, so what will this fix?

We brought that up at the Soda Springs Park Safety Task Force Meeting on Wednesday and the ordinance was thrown out, after a lot of hemming and hawing.

So the park hours will remain as they are.