(A) Stopping, standing, or parking prohibited in specified places.
(1) No person shall stop, stand, or park a vehicle, except when necessary to avoid a conflict with other traffic, or in compliance with the direction of a police officer or traffic control device, in any of the following places:
(a) In any of those places specified as prohibited by Md. Code, Transportation Article, § 21-1003; or
(b) At any place where an official sign or painted curb of the town, the state, the County Commissioners, or owners of private property used by the public in general, prohibits stopping, parking, or standing, and it is hereby specifically provided that wherever a curb is painted red or yellow, that there shall be no parking, standing, or stopping parallel or adjacent to the painted curb.
(2) No person shall stop, stand, or park a vehicle designed or used for carrying freight or merchandise in front of, along side of, or in the rear of any private dwelling except when actually unloading merchandise, or when the operator or owner of the vehicle is actually engaged in rendering a service at or to the premises.
(3) No person shall stop, stand, or park a vehicle on private property which is used for vehicular or pedestrian traffic by the public in general where an official sign and/or painted curb of the town, the state or the County Commissioners prohibits stopping, parking, or standing, and it is hereby specifically provided that wherever a curb is painted red or yellow there shall be no parking, standing, or stopping parallel or adjacent to the painted curb.
(B) Violations and penalties.
(1) Applicability of general penalty. Any person violating any of the provisions of this section, other than division A(1)(b) of this section, shall be subject to the penalty provided in § 160-14 of this chapter.
(2) Issuance of citation. A duly authorized police officer or a duly authorized traffic control officer of the town who discovers a vehicle in violation of division A(l)(b) of this section shall deliver a citation to the driver of the offending vehicle notifying him or her that the vehicle has been in violation of the section or, if the vehicle is unattended, attach the citation to the vehicle in a conspicuous place. In the absence of the driver, the registered owner of the vehicle shall be presumed to be the person receiving the citation. The offender, upon the issuance of a citation, may:
(a) Pay a fine of $10 for regular stopping, standing, or parking violations, and $50 for violations of handicapped spaces or spaces for the disabled by either mailing that amount in the envelope attached to the citation within 15 days from the date of the issuance of the citation or by paying the fine in person at the Mayor and Council's office within 15 days from the date of the issuance of the citation; or
(b) Elect to stand trial before the District Court by indicating the request to do so in the appropriate space on the citation and by mailing his or her copy to the town Mayor and Council's office, the notice to be sent no later than five days prior to the payment date, and the
PAYMENT DATE shall mean 15 days from the date of the issuance of the citation.
(c) If the offender elects to pay a fine after the payment date, the fine shall then be $20 for regular stopping, standing, or parking violations, and $100 for violations of handicapped spaces or spaces for the disabled, and the same should be paid either directly to the town Mayor and Council's office, or by mailing as indicated above.
(3) Should the offender neither elect to stand trial within the appropriate time, nor pay the appropriate fine within 30 days from the date of the issuance of the citation, he or she shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined in an amount not exceeding $500 and costs of prosecution.
(Prior Code, § 160-4) (Ord. 1-80, passed 2-19-1980; Ord. 2-90, passed 5-7-1990; Ord. 4-90, passed 7-16-1990; Ord. 2-97, passed 2-17-1997)