Request By:
Honorable J. Scott Preston
City Attorney
City of Paintsville
P.O. Box 71
Paintsville, Kentucky 41240
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of August 6 in which you enclose an ordinance enacted by the city of Paintsville requiring all property owners using their property within the city limits for commercial parking to blacktop said facilities or provide other hardtop surfaces. The purpose of the ordinance is to reduce the amount of dirt and dust found in the streets of Paintsville. You seek an opinion as to its validity.
The validity of a city ordinance is always, in the final analysis, a question for the courts to determine, however, we believe that the off-street parking ordinance for commerical use is valid under the city's police power in the interest of the public welfare. Referring to McQuillin, Mun. Corps., Vol. 7, § 24.648, the general rule appears to be that municipal regulation of privately owned parking lots and open-air parking spaces used by the general public, are justified under the public welfare clause. More specifically, McQuillin states that:
"An ordinance may require that private, off-street parking areas be paved, for this prevents dirt and mud from being carried out onto the public streets by the vehicles which use the area, thereby decreasing maintenance and sewer problems for the city and traffic hazards for the traveling public."
See State v. Larson Transfer & Storage, Inc., Minn., 246 N.W. 2d 176.
As we have indicated above, we believe that the city's police power is sufficient to sustain the validity of the ordinance. We also call your attention to the recently enacted home rule statute, KRS 82.082, which authorizes the city to exercise any power or perform any function within its boundaries that is in furtherance of a public purpose of the city and not in conflict with a constitutional provision of a statute.