St. Paul Residents Demand Action; Town Council Under Fire for Neglecting Ordinance Enforcement
People often move to towns like St. Paul, Lucas, and Parker to get away from the hustle and bustle of dense urban life. In fact, St. Paul was founded on this principal, as is displayed on the town website. Imagine a yard where you have plenty of space to play a game of wiffle ball, plant the garden of your dreams or just simply enjoy the extra space. Kids can safely play in the neighborhood without having to cross a street lined with cars obstructing their view. St. Paul ordinances were structured in such a way to guarantee this way of life by limiting the legal burdens placed on residents and being stricter on commercial properties so that they do not impact the quality of life of the residents.
Our current council has yet to enforce these ordinances that protect the citizens of St. Paul; ordinances they were elected to enforce. Case in point, the road parking situation that currently exists on Lakeway Drive adjacent to the Islamic Center of Wylie. While it is completely legal and reasonable to park on the road in a limited capacity, the magnitude of road parking on Lakeway has reached an unsafe threshold. Typically, the excessive road parking situation occurs 5 times a day and has caused traffic to back up onto Country Club Road and in one case an elementary school bus had to back into traffic to let cars get by and clear Lakeway Drive for, well, you know, driving. Fortunately, our city code establishes an attendance to parking space ratio that is meant to limit such undesirable situations. This threshold needs to be passed before a Special Use Permit (SUP) is granted to the occupier to implement the building plan for their place of worship. Once construction is finished, a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) is issued before the place of worship can conduct business and assures that, it followed, the plans approved at the time the SUP was issued. Per public records request, the ICW occupies suites 109-111 of 3990 Lakeway Drive and lacks a current SUP for all 3 suites, a CO for suite 109 and a Building Permit for suite 109. Furthermore, they are approximately 18 parking spaces short of code compliance, however the city has yet to enforce the ordinance.
On Monday, May 8th, 2023, the St. Paul Regular Council Meeting was heavily attended by concerned citizens of the town who wanted to make their voices heard regarding overcrowded street parking on the west side of Lakeway Drive in St. Paul. Many citizens expressed their concerns to the council members at that meeting regarding the patrons of the Islamic Center of Wylie (ICW) blocking driveways and reducing the flow of traffic down to one way on the street.
This issue was brought up and discussed at the St. Paul Regular Council Meeting on June 12th, 2023, as well. Again, the meeting was heavily attended and repeated concerns were brought to the council members, regarding the overcrowded street parking, especially on Friday afternoons. One of the students on the bus, Chase Graham, spoke at the meeting regarding the unsafe situation where the bus had to back up onto Country Club Road and said after the meeting regarding the council’s response, “They didn’t care but it isn’t going to stop us from coming to the meetings”. Based on the lack of action on this matter by the council it would appear that perhaps Chase has a valid point.
It is apparent, based on the attendance of the regular council meetings earlier this year that residents on Lakeway Drive and surrounding streets are concerned about the overcrowded and unsafe parking situation. Even after residents of the town requested that current permits be required for the ICW, just as every other place of worship and business in St. Paul is required to be in compliance, that still has not happened.
The question remains: Does our town plan to require businesses, places of worship and residents to apply for and be granted permits which follow the ordinances set forth by the town? If we require other places of worship to follow these ordinances, then the ICW cannot be exempt. The permits and special use designations are designed to promote a mutually beneficial environment where residential and commercial overlap do not infringe on the rights of one other. This is not the case for the ICW and the St. Paul residents who are affected by their lack of required parking spaces.
St. Paul boasts that it was established to preserve the spacious, rural environment the residents had become accustomed to. The town council is not working to preserve that spacious, rural environment when they refuse to follow their own governing principles. It has been over 220 days since the council was informed of this issue. Furthermore, at the council meeting on 12/11/23, there was a proposed change in the ordinance that would put the ICW automatically in compliance with a new parking ratio. If that change is approved, then the entire town will be affected.
Perhaps with repeated regular council meeting attendance by concerned citizens this issue will be addressed. If you would like to join forces with your fellow citizens and help to implore the town council to act justly by requiring everyone to be held to the same set of standards, please feel free to contact any of the current councilpersons:
Mark Campbell
Councilperson
Email: mark.campbell@stpaultexas.us
David Dryden
Councilperson
Email: david.dryden@stpaultexas.us
John Crowe
Mayor Pro-Tem
Councilperson
Email: john.crowe@stpaultexas.us
J.T. Trevino
Councilperson
Email: jt.trevino@stpaultexas.us
Robert Simmons
Councilperson
Email: robert.simmons@stpaultexas.us
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