Tanglewilde community residents can face $150 fines for parking on their own lawns under new ruling

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Residents in Houston's Tanglewilde neighborhood are officially banned from parking on unpaved parts of their lawns. The neighborhood's civic club calls lawn parking a growing problem that has hurt the community.

Some community members like James Schafer oppose the new ordinance. He parks this trailer on his lawn. It holds tools for a live medieval-themed production he puts on.

"We use it for LARP, which is live-action role-playing, so that's where our equipment is. It is painted to look like a castle," Schafer said.

Now, he can no longer park it there after a city ordinance was passed banning people from parking on unpaved parts of their lawns in Tanglewilde.

"Now, I'm paying 4 thousand dollars to pour concrete there, so in the end, it's going to park on the exact same spot, just with concrete," Schafer said.

While Schafer uses the trailer for entertainment, the neighborhood's civic club says others parking on lawns are causing problems for the area.

"People really do think parking looks bad on the yards. It kills the grass. It makes everything look bad. They want to preserve the charm of the neighborhood. Some are more pragmatic, 'Hey, that hurts our property value,'" Kevin Whited said.

That's why they say they brought it to the city's attention.

"I think I submitted ten photos, a dozen photos, at any given time, you can drive around the neighborhood and see that many instances of this," Whited said.

This week, the 'prohibited yard parking ordinance' was passed in the neighborhood. Now, a person can only park in a paved area. If they don't, they can face a fine of up to $150.

Three residents, including Schafer, oppose the ordinance. In a letter, one of them sent a statement that said: "We do not want to give up our rights to use our property as we must for whatever is needed as long as we are not causing harm to anyone."

"It's not meant to be a top-down, we can't wait for HPD to start fining you. That is not what it's about. It's more about the character of the neighborhood," Whited said.

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