City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2013 02 26

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CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION AGENDA ITEM III SUBJECT: PARKING ORDINANCES AND ENFORCEMENT DATE: FEBRUARY 26, 2013 PRESENTED BY: BRUCE GOODMAN, POLICE DEPARTMENT SUMMARY: City Council requested an overview of Louisville’s parking ordinances and a discussion of the Police Department’s parking violations enforcement practices, philosophies, and procedures. The first attached document lists the City’s Code provisions relating to parking for which violations are most commonly encountered, and those for which we often receive inquires. The key provisions of each Code section are excerpted below along with background information regarding enforcement. The second attachment is a compilation of communications from a resident regarding parking issues in her neighborhood and included in the packet at the resident’s request. Other than during special events, Louisville enjoys relatively few parking issues. During most years, the department issues between 200 and 300 parking citations. Most residential neighborhoods, business properties, public property, and Old Town have adequate accessible parking to accommodate normal demands. However, parking space scarcity occurs in several places including the Davidson-Mesa Trailhead, the Library surface parking lot, and several locations with two-hour restricted parking. Even if problematic, the problems are not critical and do not require significant police resources. Popular downtown special events are heavily attended and many of the participants drive and park around Old Town. The Police Department aggressively enforces normal and special parking restrictions during the events, but sometimes officers are unable to keep up with the number of problems. Area residents contend with blocked driveways, lack of available street parking near their homes, and every other issue associated with too many parked cars. Other special events that cause some concerns are those for which traffic is diverted or lanes are temporally blocked. The City restricts those events to days of the week and times that will cause the least disruptions. When the City Manager believes the impacts would be too severe he has declined to issue the Special Event Permit. The Police Department’s two Code Enforcement Officers are responsible for most of the parking enforcement. Locations with frequent parking problems (Davidson-Mesa) are given more attention, which usually results in more parking tickets. Even though much of downtown is two-hour restricted parking, officers have not been aggressively working time violations. Timed parking enforcement is labor intensive, results in relatively few violations, and diverts the Code Officers from their other duties. Where the violations 17