On Tuesday, Highland Village City Council passed the first reading of an amendment to an ordinance related to the prohibition of parking, standing or stopping of vehicles on portions of Highland Forest Drive.

The amendment—if passed on the second reading—would shorten the restricted distance of no parking from 451 feet to 419 feet. The amended distance provides a small buffer between the end of the restricted parking area and the beginning of the property line at 2041 Highland Forest Drive, which begins at 434 feet. This change would allow lawful street parking directly in front of the residence.

The call for the amendment to the ordinance came from the resident at 2041 Highland Forest Drive, who said she has had issues because the ordinance does not allow her to have guests or house keeping staff park in front of her home.

The ordinance was initially passed in 2003 because council at the time determined the commercial development in the vicinity of Highland Forest Drive and Nelson Parkway required certain parking restrictions be enacted.

"In 2003 this was an issue that residents brought to our attention," City Manager Michael Leavitt said. "At that time Celebrations Event Center was the only thing in the area. The bank had not been constructed yet so events that had been held at Celebrations—Highland Forest ended up being the overflow parking area. So for safety concerns we adopted this ordinance. Fast forward to today [city staff] agreed that it needed to be amended."