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HomeMy WebLinkAboutProv. Adoption of Ordinance 1849 Amending Ch. 36, Article 4 BMC, Parking_Part12 Memorandum to City Commission: Provisional Adoption of Ordinance 1836 Page 1 of 3 Commission Memorandum REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission. FROM: Scott Lee, City Parking Manager. SUBJECT: Provisional Adoption of Ordinance 1849 – an Ordinance amending chapter 36, article 4 BMC related to parking standards and parking facilities, applying the “rolling rule” to city facilities, amending the fine for section 36.04.260(D), and providing an effective date. MEETING DATE: November 19, 2012 AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Action. RECOMMENDATION: I recommend the Commission hold a public hearing on the ordinance, consider this staff memorandum, written and spoken public testimony, and provisionally adopt Ordinance 1849 to amend chapter 36, article 4 of the Bozeman Municipal Code related to parking standards and the city parking facilities and applying the rolling rule to said facilities and amending the fine for parking longer than 48 hours on a street, alley, or city parking facility. SUGGESTED MOTION: Having conducted a public hearing and considered public comment I hereby move to provisionally adopt Ordinance 1849 amending Chapter 36, Article 4 of the Bozeman Municipal Code related to parking standards and city parking facilities and the application of the “Rolling Rule” to city facilities and amending the fine for parking longer than 48 hours on a street, alley, or city parking facility. BACKGROUND: It is the intent of the Bozeman Parking Commission and the City to clarify and amend the parking related ordinances currently in place to include all City owned facilities in addition to streets, alleys and highways and to therefore make regulations and enforcement consistent. The proposed ordinance addresses two issues: application of the “rolling rule” to City parking facilities such as the Mendenhall and Willson parking lots and a clarification amendment regarding the fine amount for parking for longer than 48 hours on a street, alley, highway, or city parking facility. 165 Memorandum to City Commission: Provisional Adoption of Ordinance 1836 Page 2 of 3 Section 1 of the Ordinance amends section 36.04.250, BMC, and provides authority to the Bozeman Parking Commission to determine restrictions on parking in the public parking facilities including the Downtown Bridger Park Garage and all the surface parking lots owned by the city. Section 2 of the Ordinance addresses the “rolling rule.” In section 36.04.260, the City Commission previously established a “rolling rule” in 2002 to prevent people from just moving a vehicle a short distance every few hours to avoid violating the 2 hour limit. Currently, Parking and Police Officers electronically log the location of vehicles parked in 2 hour zones and mark the location of the valve stems on the vehicle thereby allowing them to determine if the vehicle has been moved. This amendment seeks to include the public parking facilities under this section. The existing “rolling rule” is currently not enforceable in public parking facilities. This has lead to abuse of the intent of the original ordinance by vehicles only needing to move from one space to another within the same parking facility to avoid violation of the city ordinance for two hour parking and said vehicle receiving a citation. Parking Officers see vehicles parked daily in a public lot and a few hours later see the same vehicle parked in the same lot just in a different space. Often the same vehicle will be noted in the same lot every weekday. The drivers have not violated the current ordinance, so no citations are issued. However, a person who parked on the adjacent street would be issued a citation, if they do not vacate the block face for a minimum of three hours. This inconsistency is what the amendment will correct. Additionally, employees of local businesses are encouraged to park elsewhere; however, they often utilize the parking lots, and then just switch spaces with another employee every few hours. The 2010 traffic study has shown the occupancy rate in the several lots remaining at a relatively high level after the late morning peak, thereby not allowing new vehicles to be able to park in these surface lots. The 2012 traffic study has not yet been finalized, however it shows increased occupancy rate in the surface lots over the 2010 levels. Local business owners have addressed their parking concerns about surface parking lot availability to the Parking Commissioners and to the City Commissioners on numerous occasions. This amendment will address the concerns of the Parking Department and Commissioners and these citizens as well. Any person, who displays a permit issued by the City for that specific parking lot, will be exempted from the maximum parking duration thru section 36.04.260(E) and therefore no lawful use will be affected. In an effort to generally revise these provisions in the municipal code we recommend in Section 3 of the Ordinance that Section 36.04.270 be repealed. The language in this section is better included in the previous section which has been done with this amendment, therefore this section should be repealed. Finally, Section 4 of the Ordinance amends Section 36.04.380 - which covers penalties for violations – to change the language regarding which violations have a minimum penalty other than the standard amount of $20.00. There currently are only two violations that have a minimum higher than the $20.00 – Fire Lane violations ($50.00) and Parking Limitations on Certain Streets – parking 2am-7am ($30.00). 166 Memorandum to City Commission: Provisional Adoption of Ordinance 1836 Page 3 of 3 The original intent of the Bozeman Police Department and the Bozeman Parking Department was to increase the minimum fine for Fire Lane violations to $50.00, the 48 hour violations to $30.00 ( not the Parking Limitations on Certain Streets), and to increase all other Title 32 violations to $20.00 each with ordinance 1771. However, when the ordinance was drafted, the language was drafted differently than the intent, and went unnoticed by both departments. The Bozeman Police Department and the Parking Department have been issuing citations for 48 hour violations in the amount of $30.00 since the ordinance was adopted and became effective February 1, 2010. Since I have discovered this, I am presenting this new amendment to the ordinance to match the original intent. Since the prior ordinance set a minimum only, the issuance of citations with a higher amount has been lawful, and both departments seek to correct the language with this amendment. The minimum fine for Parking Limitations on Certain Streets will be reduced to $20.00. The Bozeman Parking Commission is meeting on November 14, 2012 and will vote on a resolution to adopt and recommend to the City Commission said changes to the BMC section 36, article 4 detailed above and in ordinance 1849. ALTERNATIVES: As determined by the City Commission. FISCAL EFFECTS: Negligible increase in revenue. ATTACHMENTS: • Ordinance 1849 for provisional adoption. Report compiled on: November 12, 2012 167 Ordinance No. 1849 Page 1 of 4 ORDINANCE NO. 1849 AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BOZEMAN, MONTANA, AMENDING CHAPTER 36, ARTICLE 4 OF THE BOZEMAN MUNICIPAL CODE RELATED TO PARKING STANDARDS AND CITY PARKING FACILITIES, APPLYING THE “ROLLING RULE” TO CITY PARKING FACILITIES, ADJUSTING THE FINE FOR PARKING LONGER THAN 48 HOURS ON A STREET, ALLEY, OR CITY PARKING FACILITY, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the City Commission of the City of Bozeman, Montana: Section 1 Section 36.04.250 of the Bozeman Municipal Code shall be amended so that such section shall read as follows: “Sec. 36.04.250. - Parking limitations on certain streets/city parking facilities. A. The director of public services is authorized to erect signs or markings upon either or both sides of any street or highway to prohibit the standing or parking of vehicles or to restrict such standing or parking. B. The Parking Commission may, by resolution, erect signs or marking upon any city parking facility to prohibit the standing or parking of vehicles or to restrict such standing or parking. C. When official signs are erected in each block or markings are placed along a street, highway, or within a city parking facility, indicating that parking is prohibited or restricted, no person shall park any vehicle in violation of any such sign or marking.” Section 2 Section 36.04.260 of the Bozeman Municipal Code shall be amended so that such section shall read as follows: 168 Ordinance No. 1849 Page 2 of 4 “Sec. 36.04.260. - Maximum parking duration designated. A. When signs are erected on any street, alley, highway, or city parking facility, within the city designating a maximum duration for parking, no person shall park any vehicle for longer than the maximum duration posted. B. A vehicle may not return to a parking space in the same block face or within 500 feet of where previously parked on the same block face or to the same city parking facility for a three hour period. C. Upon expiration of the maximum parking duration as posted, a citation may be issued, in accordance with 36.04.380, to any vehicle which remains parked or stopped on the same block face unless for vehicles parked on streets, alleys, and highways: 1. The vehicle has moved more than 500 lineal feet, measured along the curb or edge line; 2. The vehicle has moved to an unregulated area in the same block face; or 3. The vehicle has vacated the block face for a minimum of three hours. D. Upon expiration of the maximum parking duration as posted for a city parking facility, a citation may be issued, in accordance with 36.04.380, to any vehicle which remains parked or stopped in the same city parking facility. E. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no person shall park a vehicle for longer than 48 consecutive hours at any time upon a street, alley, or highway within the city or within a city parking facility, except for the Downtown Bridger Park Garage, unless displaying a valid permit. Signs may be erected by the director of public services giving notice thereof. However, the signs are not required.” Section 3 Section 36.04.270 of the Bozeman Municipal Code shall be repealed in its entirety and shall be reserved. There shall be no numbering changes to other sections in Chapter 36, Article 4, Division 1. Section 4 Section 36.04.380.A of the Bozeman Municipal Code shall be amended so that such section shall read as follows: “Sec. 36.04.380. – Enforcement; penalty for violations; designated as municipal infractions. A. Municipal infraction/fines. A violation of this article is a municipal infraction and shall be punishable by a civil penalty as provided in section 24.02.040 and the civil penalties shall be imposed as follows: 1. The minimum civil penalty for parking in violation of section 36.04.180 shall be a fine of not less than $50.00 or more than $300.00. 169 Ordinance No. 1849 Page 3 of 4 2. The minimum civil penalty for parking in violation of 36.04.260(D) 3. The minimum civil penalty for parking in violation of other sections of this article shall be a fine of not less than $20.00 or more than $300.00. shall be a fine of not less than $30.00 or more than $300.00. Section 5 Repealer. All provisions of the ordinances of the City of Bozeman in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance are, and the same are hereby, repealed and all other provisions of the ordinances of the City of Bozeman not in conflict with the provisions of this ordinance shall remain in full force and effect. Section 6 Savings Provision. This ordinance does not affect the rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred or proceedings that were begun before the effective date of this ordinance. All other provisions of the Bozeman Municipal Code not amended by this Ordinance shall remain in full force and effect. Section 7 Severability. That should any sentence, paragraph, subdivision, clause, phrase or section of this ordinance be adjudged or held to be unconstitutional, illegal, or invalid, the same shall not affect the validity of this ordinance as a whole, or any part or provision thereof, other than the part so decided to be invalid, illegal or unconstitutional, and shall not affect the validity of the Bozeman Municipal Code as a whole. Section 8 Codification. This Ordinance shall be codified as indicated in Section 1 – 4. Section 9 Effective Date. This ordinance shall be in full force and effect thirty (30) days after final adoption. 170 Ordinance No. 1849 Page 4 of 4 PROVISIONALLY PASSED by the City Commission of the City of Bozeman, Montana, on first reading at a regular session held on the 19th day of November, 2012. ____________________________________ SEAN A. BECKER Mayor ATTEST: ____________________________________ STACY ULMEN, CMC City Clerk FINALLY PASSED, ADOPTED AND APPROVED by the City Commission of the City of Bozeman, Montana on second reading at a regular session thereof held on the ___ of ____________________, 2012. The effective date of this ordinance is __________, __, 2012. _________________________________ SEAN A. BECKER Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ STACY ULMEN, CMC City Clerk APPROVED AS TO FORM: _________________________________ GREG SULLIVAN City Attorney 171