(A) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to:
(1) Create a customer friendly parking environment where on-street parking is utilized for short term parking primarily by patrons of individuals or organizations occupying downtown properties;
(2) Promoting the use of off-street parking lots by employees or others who need longer-term parking in the downtown area;
(3) Establish a uniform and consistent administrative procedure for handling dismissal of improvidently issued parking citations;
(4) Establish a gradually increasing financial penalty to discourage habitual parking violators;
(5) Establish a validation system so that no customer, patron or client visiting the downtown will pay a parking fine;
(6) Eliminate the three-hour per day time limit for parking in the downtown district; and
(7) Permit the Parking Administrator to utilize selective enforcement in order to maximize the effectiveness of parking enforcement officers and promote the purposes of this section.
(B) Downtown parking zone boundaries. The boundaries are as follows:
Commencing at the intersection of the south line of Third Avenue South with the westerly line of South Fourth Street, in the city, which is the point of beginning; thence easterly along the south line of Third Avenue South to the intersection of the south line with the west line of South First Street; then southerly along the west line of South First Street and vacated South First Street to the intersection of the west line with the north line of Eighth Avenue South; then westerly along said north line of Eighth Avenue South to the intersection of the north line with the westerly line of South Fourth Street; then northerly along said westerly line of South Fourth Street to the point of beginning; all located in the city.
(C) Selective enforcement. The Parking Administrator is hereby authorized to utilize selective enforcement procedures to promote the purposes of this section and maximize the use of parking enforcement funds.
(D) Parking citations. Parking citations shall have the following information printed on the citation:
Downtown patrons (not employees, business owners, sales or delivery people) may present this citation to any downtown merchant for a free validation.
Anyone not eligible for free validation may contest this charge within seven days after issuance of the citation by filing a written complaint on a form available at City Hall at the address listed above. Failure to pay a judgment for a parking violation will be grounds for refusal to renew a vehicle registration, impoundment of a vehicle, Court action and/or suspension of a vehicle owner’s driver’s license.
(E) Parking validation program.
(1) The downtown partnership division of the city’s Area Chamber of Commerce is hereby authorized to issue free parking validation stickers to all businesses and organizations in the downtown district eligible to participate in the parking validation program. The Parking Administrator is hereby authorized to establish rules and regulations for disqualification of downtown businesses or organizations who abuse the validation program by issuing validation stickers to ineligible violators. A participating business or organization is entitled to one warning from the Parking Administrator before being disqualified from the validation system. A business disqualified from participating in the validation system may reapply for participation after an ineligibility period of 12 months.
(2) The downtown partnership will reimburse the city at the rate of $2.50 per validated parking violation. The Downtown Partnership is hereby authorized to use funds from the Self Supporting Municipal Improvement District tax to subsidize the parking ticket validation program. The Downtown Partnership is also encouraged to promote the validation system to businesses and customers through coop advertising or other marketing programs conducted by the Downtown Partnership. Funds utilized to subsidize the validation program shall not exceed $1,250 per year unless additional authorization is received from the City Council.
(F) Dismissal of contested citation.
(1) A complaint contesting a citation must be presented in writing within seven days following issuance of the citation at City Hall, on a form provided at the City Clerk’s Office in City Hall. The complaint may be delivered in person or by mail.
(2) Citations shall be voided due to any of the following data entry errors.
(a) Wrong vehicle make or model;
(b) Wrong location;
(c) Wrong date;
(d) Wrong time;
(e) Wrong tag number;
(f) Incomplete information on citation; or
(g) Downtown customer.
(3) A citation may be dismissed if the violation was due to circumstances beyond the vehicle operator’s control such as:
(a) Vehicle mechanical problems (if a vehicle is temporarily inoperable and the vehicle is moved within eight hours); or
(b) Vehicle operator health problem (such as sudden illness).
(4) An out of town or out of state license tag will not be grounds to dismiss a citation. If the cost to collect a citation exceeds the amount of the fine, the Parking Administrator is authorized to consider and implement alternate collection methods permit by law.
(5) If a vehicle operator fails to display a mirror placard it is not grounds to dismiss.
(6) An administrative fee of $5 will be charged for a citation contested if the fine is greater than $5.
(7) A contractor working on a building is not grounds to dismiss a citation. Permitting procedures can be found under § 79.12(D).
(8) Other situations of undue hardship, excusable oversight or inequity. A dismissal of the citation will not be considered if the dismissal would create an inequality in enforcement that the general public is required to follow. The Parking Administrator is authorized to gather statistical information from citation data.
(9) The director of the Municipal Transit Authority is hereby designated as Parking Administrator. Any dismissal of a citation under division (F)(8) of this section must be approved by both the Parking Administrator and the Police Chief or his or her designee. Any other dismissals may be approved by the Parking Administrator or the Administrator’s designated agent. The City Administrator or the Administrator’s designee, shall conduct a semi-annual random audit of parking citation dismissals to review compliance with the provisions of this division.
(Ord. 2283, passed 11-9-2004; Ord. 2507, passed 5-27-2014) Penalty, see § 79.99
Cross-reference:
Specific downtown parking regulations, see Chapter 85, Schedule I