Though the intent may have been clear, the wording of the old ordinance wasn’t perfectly clear, so the assembly fixed it by amending municipal code to make clear that leaving a vehicle on the road and obstructing or impeding traffic is punishable by a $50 fine.

The assembly voted unanimously on Aug. 25 to adopt the code changes.

“The ordinance would make it unlawful for any person to stop, stand, park or leave a vehicle unattended upon a roadway in a manner that obstructs or impedes the normal and reasonable movement of vehicular traffic,” Police Chief Gene Meek reported to the assembly.

The amended code also applies if a driver leaves a car in a roadway and “causes or requires another vehicle to cross the centerline or enter an opposing lane of traffic to proceed safely, or reduces the usable width of the traveled portion of the roadway to the extent that the free movement of traffic is substantially impaired.”

There was no public testimony on the ordinance at the Aug. 25 hearing.

“This isn’t in an effort for people stopping and talking on Front Street,” Borough Manager Mason Villarma told assembly members. “This is to stop people from parking in the middle of the roadway.”

Mayor Patty Gilbert was on the same centerline as Villarma. The ordinance is about “stationary parking,” she said, “not talking in the middle of the street.”

The change in municipal code was prompted after a judge dismissed a ticket because Wrangell code said a vehicle is not illegally obstructing traffic as long as 10 feet of space remains near the car, regardless of any hazard the parked vehicle may present, the police chief explained to the assembly last month. 

“It’s just one of those things that the ordinance was written decades ago, and needs to be updated for today’s standards,” Meek said in an interview last month. “People just need to get in the habit of not obstructing traffic.”

The ordinance took effect immediately upon assembly approval.