(a) General Finding. The Council finds, as a result of public testimony, professional urban planning studies, and other evidence, that the continued vitality of the City depends on the preservation of safe, healthy and attractive neighborhoods. The Council further finds that the flight of residents and property owners from the core area of cities can be traced in part to the deterioration of such cities as attractive and comfortable places in which to reside. The Council further finds that one fact that has contributed to this deterioration in the City is the excessive and burdensome practice of an over abundance of residents and non-residents in certain areas and neighborhoods parking their motor vehicles for extended periods of time therein. Since there is in the City at any time a large surplus of motor vehicles over available on and off-street parking spaces, this condition detracts from a healthy and complete urban environment. A system of preferential resident parking will serve to reduce a number of strains on residents of the City and thus promote the general public welfare.
(b) Specific Findings. The following specific legislative findings of the Council in support of preferential resident parking are set forth as illustrations of the need compelling the enactment of this Chapter. They are intended as illustrations only and do not exhaust the subject of the factual basis supporting its adoption:
(1) The safety, health and welfare of the residents of the City can be greatly enhanced by the maintenance of the attractiveness, convenience and livability of its neighborhoods and other residential areas;
(2) It is a fact of modern living in the City that a large portion of municipal residents possess automobiles and as a result are daily faced with the need to store these motor vehicles in or near their residences;
(3) Certain neighborhoods and areas of the City do not have sufficient on or off-street space to accommodate the convenient parking of motor vehicles by residents thereof in the vicinity of their homes;
(4) Such neighborhoods above are often further burdened by influxes of motor vehicles owned by non-residents which compete for the inadequate availability of on-street parking spaces;
(5) There further exists certain parking "attractors" within the City, such as Miami University, public schools, municipal facilities, business facilities and the hospital which further exacerbate resident parking problems;
(6) Unnecessary vehicle miles, noise, pollution and strains on interpersonal relationships caused by the conditions set forth herein work unacceptable hardships on residents of these neighborhoods and other residential areas by causing the deterioration of air quality, safety, tranquility and other values available in an urban residential environment;
(7) If allowed to continue unchecked, these adverse effects on the residents of the City will contribute to a further decline of the living conditions therein, a reduction in the attractiveness of residing within said City, and consequent injury to the general public welfare;
(8) A system of preferential resident parking as enacted in this Chapter will serve to promote the safety, health and welfare of all the residents of the City by reducing unnecessary personal motor vehicle travel, noise and pollution, and by promoting improvements in air quality, the convenience and attractiveness of urban residential living, and the increased use of alternative forms of transportation. The public welfare will also be served by ensuring a more stable and valuable property tax base in order to generate the revenues necessary to provide essential public services.
(Ord. 2580. Passed 4-7-98.)