By Tammy Grubb

The Board of Aldermen will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the OWASA Community Room, 400 Jones Ferry Road. (The meeting will be held at OWASA until after the May 8 election, since Town Hall is being used as an early voting site.)

The board will hold public hearings on several items, including a proposed application seeking state Community Development Block Grant funding for a public sewer on Roberson Street. The aldermen have approved building the sewer line in response to last year’s failure of the private sewer line serving multiple businesses in the 100 block of East Main Street. The $238,600 project will extend an existing OWASA sewer main from Maple Street to Roberson Street. The town is requesting 70 percent of the funding from the state program and has asked the county to help provide local funding for the project through the quarter-cent sales tax for economic development.

Other public hearings scheduled for Tuesday will deal with changes to the town’s land-use ordinance regarding compact car and bicycle parking requirements.

The board also is scheduled to talk about OWASA’s draft protocol for when the utility can tap its local allowance from Jordan Lake in times of severe drought and discuss the possibility of additional regulations on predatory towing from privately-owned parking lots.

The Town Council unanimously approved a new towing ordinance Monday night designed to prevent predatory towing and increase accountability and enforcement from tow truck operators.

The new rules will require more signage around private lots downtown that lets drivers know they can be towed.

The council also voted to increase the tow fee to $125, up from $100, and place it on the town's fee schedule, so it can be reviewed each year. That vote was 6-3 with Council members Laurin Easthom, Penny Rich and Donna Bell dissenting.

I'm writing about one proposed bill that could change relations between motorists and bicyclists in North Carolina, and about a second bill that would put new limits on towing operators that remove cars from private parking lots.

If you've had experience with either of these issues, I'd like to hear from you. Please e-mail me and let me know how I can contact you. [See updates, added 5/10/10, below.]

1) With NCDOT reminding North Carolinians during Bicycle Safety Month that "bicyclists share the same rights and responsibilities as other drivers," legislators are considering a proposal to put new restrictions on groups of bike riders when they share the highways with car drivers. ... [MORE]

The management at Abbey Court condominiums has ceased directing its towing contractor to place immobilizing boots on the wheels of unauthorized vehicles after a tenant ran over his own foot last week because he didn’t realize his car had been booted.

“He opened the door to see why the car was not moving and didn’t realize the car was in reverse,” according to a police incident report. “The car lurched backwards and ran up on the curb, pulling [the driver] underneath.”

Emergency medical responders treated the victim at the scene for minor injuries.

The apartment management had been booting and towing vehicles that did not have valid parking permits. They wanted to make sure all vehicles parked in the Abbey Court lot belonged to residents there and met appearance standards.