(a) Special parking locations and privileges for persons with disabilities that limit or impair the ability to walk, also known as handicapped parking spaces or disability parking spaces shall be provided and designated by the Municipality and all agencies and instrumentalities thereof at all offices and facilities, where parking is provided, whether owned, rented or leased, and at all publicly owned parking garages. The locations shall be designated through the posting of an elevated sign, whether permanently affixed or movable, imprinted with the international symbol of access and shall be reasonably close to exits, entrances, elevators and ramps. All elevated signs posted in accordance with this subsection and Ohio R.C. 3781.111 (C) shall be mounted on a fixed or movable post, and the distance from the ground to the bottom edge of the sign shall measure not less than five feet. If a new sign or a replacement sign designating a special parking location is posted on or after October 14, 1999, there also shall be affixed upon the surface of that sign or affixed next to the designating sign a notice that states the fine applicable for the offense of parking a motor vehicle in the special designated parking location if the motor vehicle is not legally entitled to be parked in that location.
(b) (1) No person shall stop, stand, or park any motor vehicle at special parking locations provided under paragraph (a) of this section or at special clearly marked parking locations provided in or on privately owned parking lots, parking garages, or other parking areas and designated in accordance with that paragraph, unless one of the following applies:
A. The motor vehicle is being operated by or for the transport of a person with a disability that limits or impairs the ability to walk and is displaying a valid removable windshield placard or special license plates;
B. The motor vehicle is being operated by or for the transport of a handicapped person and is displaying a parking card or special handicapped license plates.
(2) Any motor vehicle that is parked in a special marked parking location in violation of paragraph (b)(1) of this section may be towed or otherwise removed from the parking location by the law enforcement agency of the political subdivision in which the parking location is located. A motor vehicle that is so towed or removed shall not be released to its owner until the owner presents proof of ownership of the motor vehicle and pays all towing and storage fees normally imposed by that political subdivision for towing and storing motor vehicles. If the motor vehicle is a leased vehicle, it shall not be released to the lessee until the lessee presents proof that the person is the lessee of the motor vehicle and pays all towing and storage fees normally imposed by that political subdivision for towing and storing motor vehicles.
(3) If a person is charged with a violation of paragraph (b)(1) of this section, it is an affirmative defense to the charge that the person is, in fact, “handicapped” as defined in this section below, or suffered an injury not more than seventy-two hours prior to the time the person was issued the ticket or citation and that, because of the injury, the person meets at least one of the criteria contained in paragraph (A)(1) of Section 4503.44 of the Ohio Revised Code.
(c) When a motor vehicle is being operated by or for the transport of a person with a disability that limits or impairs the ability to walk and is displaying a removable windshield placard or a temporary removable windshield placard or special license plates, or when a motor vehicle is being operated by or for the transport of a handicapped person and is displaying a parking card or special handicapped license plates, the motor vehicle is permitted to park for a period of two hours in excess of the legal parking period permitted by local authorities, except where local ordinances or police rules provide otherwise or where the vehicle is parked in such a manner as to be clearly a traffic hazard.
(d) No owner of an office, facility, or parking garage where special parking locations are required to be designated in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section shall fail to properly mark the special parking locations in accordance with that paragraph or fail to maintain the markings of the special locations, including the erection and maintenance of the fixed or movable signs.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a person or organization to apply for a removable windshield placard or special license plates if the parking card or special license plates issued to the person or organization under prior law have not expired or been surrendered or revoked.
(f) Whoever violates any provision of paragraph (b) above is guilty of an unclassified misdemeanor and, if he or she does not timely pay the parking ticket at the Police Department in accordance with the provisions of Section 351.18 of this Chapter and a citation is issued for his or her appearance in Rocky River Municipal Court or the City of North Olmsted Mayor's Court, he or she shall be fined not less than two hundred fifty ($250.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00). An offender who violates any provision of said paragraph (b) above shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) if the offender, prior to sentencing, proves either of the following to the satisfaction of the court: :
(1) At the time of the violation, the offender or the person for whose transport the motor vehicle was being operated had been issued a removable windshield placard that then was valid or special license plates that then were valid but the offender or the person neglected to display the placard or license plates; or
(2) At the time of the violation, the offender or the person for whose transport the motor vehicle was being operated had been issued a parking card that then was valid or special handicapped license plates that then were valid but the offender or the person neglected to display the card or license plates.
In no case shall an offender who violates any provision of paragraph (b) above be sentenced to any term of imprisonment.
(g) As used in this section:
(1) “Handicapped person” means any person who has lost the use of one or both legs or one or both arms, who is blind, deaf, or so severely handicapped as to be unable to move without the aid of crutches or a wheelchair, or whose mobility is restricted by a permanent cardiovascular, pulmonary, or other handicapping condition.
(2) “Person with a disability that limits or impairs the ability to walk” has the same meaning as in Section 4503.44 of the Ohio Revised Code.
(3) “Special license plates” and “removable windshield placard” mean any license plates or removable windshield placard or temporary removable windshield placard issued under Section 4503.41 or 4503.44 of the Ohio Revised Code, and also mean any substantially similar license plates or removable windshield placard or temporary removable windshield placard issued by a state, district, country, or sovereignty.
(Ord. 2013-84. Passed 10-15-13.)