Illegally parked boat(s) creates blindspot on Divison and South 4 St since 2009;

There had been some small talk on Facebook relating to some boats parked illegally both off and on the street.

The company that owns these boats that are parked illegally is Archer Auto Marine at 308 Division St.

One of the illegal parking laws that was violated is listed in the City Code.  According to Burlington City Code 79.02, it states quote,

This means that if a vehicle is driving alongside the street in the right direction, any vehicle parked should be parked facing the direction they are heading.  Not only this violates Burlington City Code, it also violates the Code of Iowa in Section 321.361.

In this photo taken in April 2013, it shows clearly that the boats are parked facing the wrong direction.






























In this next photo, the boat parked on the left most of the image may also violate another city code law.  It is found in the Burlington City Code, which is listed in Chapter 79.11.

The last park that states about no boat or boat trailer shall be parked on the public right-of-way within 25 feet of any street intersection.  The boat clearly shows that its parked closer than 25 feet to the stop sign alongside the street of where its located.

Another thing to mention in this photo is the boats that are parked alongside of the street is parked technically on city property.

Not only parking like this is illegal, its also dangerous.  By having the view blocked for the driver of the right-of-way on the street

 









This is a before image taken in 2009 before the boats were placed on this side of the street.  Notice the location of the stopsign and the area down and around the sign.

Looking at the more current photo, you can notice the boat on the left most image is extremely close to the stop sign.  This can be difficult for the driver to look on their right side to see what cars are coming through.

In this 2009 street view photo made by Google Earth, the angle that is presented is where the driver has to look before he/she would have to go either direction.  This shot also shows that the boats are parked illegally by facing the wrong direction when parked. 

In this angle, you can clearly see the blindspot the boat creates for the driver that is behind the stop sign in this part of the interaction since 2009.

Which then brings back this current photo of the same area.  The boat that was farther down in the 2009 photo was brought up closer to the boat that has the blindspot.  This makes conditions much worse for the driver to view and determine the best timing to move out of the general area.

It is not clear whether or not the company had violated any laws pertaining toward parking on the snow route while the city declares a snow-related emergency in which vehicles cannot be parked alongside streets with snow plowing signs.

Any accidents involved in this interaction due to these blindspots can result in a lawsuit toward Archer Auto Marine company.