KANNAPOLIS — People who use city parks and other public facilities have to mind their manners and obey a new slate of rules or risk being ejected and temporarily banned from the facilities.
City Council approved an ordinance on first reading Monday that lays down the law on conduct in public places.
“There essentially haven’t been any rules regarding conduct in public parks,”said Parks and Recreation Director Gary Mills. There have been “understood rules, but nothing on paper.”
Mills and Wally Safrit, the city’s attorney, have been fashioning the ordinance for several months. Safrit said the city has had some enforceable rules but nothing as comprehensive as the new document.
Among the numerous provisions are the usual prohibitions on destroying or defacing property, digging in parks or removing anything from them, littering and hanging signs without first getting permission.
The ordinance bans firearms, BB guns, air guns, bows, slingshots and other things that can be used as weapons, along with alcohol, drugs and fireworks or explosives.
Dog owners must keep their pets on leashes no longer than 6 feet, and if their pets feel the call of nature in the park, the owners must clean up behind them.
Horses, mules, cows and other livestock not part of a park-sponsored program are banned.
People who violate the rules can be immediately suspended from the park or public facility for up to 30 days by the city manager or anyone designated by him. Park personnel can expel people for three days.
“I don’t believe we left out anything that we needed,” Mayor Ray Moss said.
At least one council member thought the ordinance included too much. Councilman Richard Anderson questioned a ban on trail bikes and other motorized vehicles designed for off-road use. He said he personally knows a man who for years supervised his grandson on a go-cart in the parking lot at Village Park on Loop Road.
Anderson said children who like to drive go-carts and ride motorized scooters need a place to go.
“I think it’s a crying shame that we pick out a specific type of resident and we exclude those,” he said.
Mills said he doesn’t know of any public parks that allow go-carts and like vehicles. But he said people who favor places for those vehicles are welcome to a public meeting March 15 to have their say about what should be included in a parks and recreation master plan the county and Kannapolis are developing.
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