New McPherson traffic ordinance requires posted signs at accessible parking spaces, including private lots
Ordinance No. 3469 also bars parking on any roadway or city-owned lot mainly to display a vehicle for sale.
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Sign up freePainted handicap markings alone are no longer enough to reserve an accessible parking space in McPherson — on public or private property — under a traffic ordinance the City Commission passed Tuesday, Sept. 15. Ordinance No. 3469 adopts by reference the League of Kansas Municipalities' 2026 Standard Traffic Ordinance with local changes, and its amended Section 87(a) requires "a vertical sign post with a handicapped parking sign attached and not merely painted handicap markings on the ground." The ordinance states it takes effect upon publication; the full text was published Sept. 16.
For private lot owners whose accessible stalls are marked only with paint, that is a new sign requirement. But the ordinance sets no compliance deadline, no grace period and no process for notifying businesses, and it does not say who bears the cost.
Drivers using a temporary placard must now also carry the state or county receipt showing the name of the person it was issued to. A new Section 87(e)(4) bars a driver from defending a ticket on the grounds that a space was not properly designated, so long as it is reasonably identified by the international symbol of access. The ordinance does not say how that reads against the sign requirement.
The ordinance also sets a $1,000 line for hit-and-run penalties: leaving the scene of an accident causing less than $1,000 in property damage is a Class C misdemeanor, while injury to any person or $1,000 or more in damage is a Class A person misdemeanor.
All-terrain vehicles remain unlawful inside city limits, with a government carve-out — including the McPherson Recreation Commission and Unified School District 418 — that the ordinance also adds for golf carts. Drivers may show proof of insurance on a cellphone. Bicycles, skateboards and other human-powered conveyances may use sidewalks outside the B-3 Central Business District, with pedestrians given the right-of-way.
The Standard Traffic Ordinance is a model code the League publishes for Kansas cities to adopt by reference; a copy marked with every local change must be filed with the city clerk and open to public inspection.
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