(a) The registered owner of a vehicle that is immobilized or impounded for the purpose of enforcing a hearing officer’s order shall have the right to a prompt immobilization/impoundment hearing before a hearing officer.
(b) The request for an immobilization/ impoundment hearing must be made in writing to the director, on a form provided for that purpose, within three calendar days from the date the vehicle was immobilized or impounded, whichever occurred first.
(c) An immobilization/impoundment hearing must be held within 48 hours after the director receives the request for a hearing, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and city holidays, at the parking adjudication office or at such other convenient and reasonable place as the hearing officer may designate.
(d) The issue to be determined at the immobilization/impoundment hearing is whether the immobilization or impoundment of the vehicle was authorized by this chapter.
(e) The immobilization or impoundment of a vehicle is valid if it complies with the requirements of this chapter, unless the vehicle owner or operator, or agent of the vehicle owner or operator, can establish that:
(1) the vehicle was registered to and operated by another person at the time the unresolved parking violations occurred;
(2) the vehicle was being operated without the owner’s express or implied consent at the time the unresolved parking violations occurred;
(3) through no fault of the owner, notice of the unresolved parking violations was never received as required by this article;
(4) one or more citations for the unresolved parking violations are defective and, if dismissed, would leave no more than two unresolved parking violations within the calendar year; or
(5) at the time of immobilization or impoundment of the vehicle, the registered owner had no more than two unresolved parking violations within the calendar year.
(f) The determination of the hearing officer at the immobilization/impoundment hearing is final and is not subject to appeal.
(g) If the hearing officer determines that immobilization or impoundment of a vehicle was not valid, all fees paid for immobilization, towage, storage, and impoundment of the vehicle and any other amount paid to redeem the vehicle shall be refunded, including any fines, penalties, and costs for any parking violation that the hearing officer determines should not have been considered in counting parking violations for the purposes of immobilizing or impounding the vehicle. Any fines, penalties, and costs paid for a parking violation for which the registered owner was liable will not be refunded. (Ord. 21612)