City officials have a new message for parents who drop off and pick up children at school: don't park on the grass or block the roads or we'll ticket you.

Pembroke Pines commissioners voted 5-0 to allow police to erect "No Parking" signs on grass swales near schools and impose fines on any parents who park on them.

This decision came after months of meeting with Broward County School officials and reviewing the city's code of ordinances, which prohibited "No Parking" signs adjacent to schools. The ordinance lifts the ban on signs and gives officers, the police chief and City Manager Charles Dodge authority to install them near schools with heavy drop-off and pick-up traffic.

"I've heard of some concern by homeowners associations where parents have parked across the street from the school on their swale and it tore up their grass," Dodge said. "There was also concern with children having to cross the street from the school where parents are parked in stacks. We would do that kind of analysis when placing signs."

Safety for children crossing the street to parents in parked cars was the biggest concern, said Commissioner Angelo Castillo, but parking on swales and right-of-ways wasn't a citywide problem.

"We should look at specific schools where parents have no choice but to park cars on the swales. Some parts of the city are necessary, some are not. This relies on the discretion of police to decide where to enforce the law," Castillo said. "I can see that parents will question how police legislate and fight it."