(Okoboji)– Another chapter was written Tuesday evening in the ongoing saga between Butch Parks and the city of Okoboji.
The city council voted unanimously to restrict parking to one side of Lakeshore Drive in the vicinity of the O’Farrell Sisters Restaurant and Okoboji Boats…both owned by Parks. The council also voted to increase fines for violators from five dollars currently to 25-dollars. The revised ordinances become official upon publication in another week or so.
The action followed a considerable amount of discussion, some of it heated, between council members, a crowd that overflowed the council chambers and Parks.
Phil Redenbaugh, a Storm Lake attorney representing Parks, told the council he had been instructed by Parks to file a lawsuit against the city in the event the new parking restrictions are adopted, which they were.
Parks added they’ve gone out of their way to try to address the city’s concerns, adding he’s met with several council members individually.
Several residents living around Okoboji Boats sounded off over congestion and noise, and the fact that their driveways are blocked by people illegally parking in front of them. One man said Okoboji Boats patrons are even parking in his yard, and demanded it be stopped be immediately.
Parks defended his operations at Okoboji Boats, saying he has a vision for the future of Smith’s Bay and how it should transition to a “marina district”. Parks maintained that operations of Okoboji Boats haven’t changed as the result of him serving alcohol at the site, saying it’s been done there before. Councilman David Thoreson disagreed, saying the entire Okoboji Boats property has been transformed into a bar, breaking the traditional use of the business which was allowed to continue in an area zoned commercial through a variance.
The council also Tuesday directed City Attorney Mike Chozen to proceed in preparing a lawsuit against Parks for alleged violations of the city’s parking ordinance, which requires atleast one parking space for every 50 feet of patron space, along with one parking spot for every four people that work in a business.
