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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda: Study Session Report A: Early Morning Parking Hours. � yt FOlty j9 `�f r . loro�r ^r ted Aul'un S. STAFF REPORT o. ya lunity oi� Police Department DATE: November 17, 2009 TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: Robert P. Sanderson, Chief of Police PS- SUBJECT: Report Regarding Early Morning Parking Hours Recommendation: Provide Direction SUMMARY The Police Department recommends changing the overnight parking restrictions from between 3:00 a.m. through 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. through 6:00 a.m. BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION The City of Arcadia has prohibited parking of vehicles on City streets for over 45 years, and prior to February 2008, the hours of restriction were from _3 -00 a.m to 6 :00_a.m._ At the February 5, 2008, City Council meeting, the Council adopted Ordinance 2236 amending Section 3214.1 of the Arcadia Municipal Code relating to the Uniform Traffic Ordinance. The amendment changed the hours of overnight parking prohibition from 3:00 a.m. through 6:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. through 5:00 a.m. The principal reason for the reduction of one hour from the overnight parking prohibition resulted from a single citizen complaint that they had received several parking citations (on one morning) for vehicles that were parked on the street without an annual or temporary parking permit in the 5:00 a.m. hour. The citizen claimed to have been moving his vehicles around from his driveway in preparation to go to the gym. The citizen argued that many people were leaving their residences earlier to go to work, the gym, or other places and that it was no longer fair to prohibit overnight parking past 5:00 a. m. The Police Department conducts overnight parking enforcement primarily through the contracted services of Inter -Con Security Services. Two Inter -Con parking control officers are assigned to an eight -hour shift that runs from 2:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. These two officers attempt to cover the entire City each night to enforce the overnight parking restrictions. The parking control officers serve multiple purposes while conducting parking enforcement activities. Officers check vehicles parked on City streets to determine if they have an annual overnight parking permit or a temporary overnight parking permit issued by the City. If a vehicle is found parked on the street during prohibited hours without a permit, the vehicle is issued a parking citation for the overnight parking violation pursuant to Arcadia Municipal Code Section 3214.1. At the same time, the parking control officers look at the vehicle for indications that may be suspicious and that require additional follow -up by a police officer. Such indications may be unpermitted vehicles parked during early morning hours that have a warm engine and unfrosted windows while other parked vehicles have cold engines and frosted windows. This would indicate vehicles were recently parked but may not be residents. In such cases, the parking control officer may conduct DMV registration checks to determine if the vehicles are local. If a vehicle is from out of town, it could simply be a visitor staying overnight or it could be a vehicle used by persons committing crimes in the area. The parking control officer would alert a police officer to the suspicious vehicle for further investigation. Arcadia Police crime statistics indicate that from January 2009 through September 2009, there were 248 automobile burglaries (forced entry) reported. Sixty -one percent of these burglaries occurred during overnight hours. It is common for burglars to park their vehicle and walk around neighborhoods looking for vehicles to break into and steal the contents therein. In the same time period, 116 thefts from unlocked automobiles were reported; 38% occurred during overnight hours. Parking __cantraLofficers ave, __also come_acros occup pa rked vehi on th e street._ It has been found that individuals may be homeless, may be intoxicated, may be involved in a crime or may have some criminal record, and may be wanted by law enforcement. Such was the case several years ago when a suspicious vehicle was found parked on a residential street with a person sleeping inside and the vehicle had Michigan license plates. It was determined that the person had driven straight from Michigan after committing a homicide and had pulled onto a residential street in Arcadia to sleep. The person was arrested and extradited back to Michigan. Two cases involved an occupied parked vehicle where the officer found a rape to be in progress inside the automobile. Stolen vehicles have also been recovered through parking enforcement activities. Parking control officers ensure that parked vehicles are not left abandoned on City streets and their enforcement ensures the streets remain unencumbered for street sweeping purposes. In high density areas characterized by apartment complexes or. condominium units, available parking space is also limited and the issuance of annual parking permits helps to regulate the total number of vehicles allowed to park on those streets. This not only helps to maintain the aesthetics of the neighborhoods, but it also helps to provide easier access for emergency vehicles during nighttime emergencies. Prior to the reduction of the prohibited hours of overnight parking in February of 2008, Inter -Con officers were able to consistently provide proactive enforcement and review of parked vehicles throughout the City on a nightly basis. Parking control officers estimate that the one -third reduction of enforcement time results in approximately 250 vehicles per month that are in violation of the ordinance or may be involved in suspicious activity that officers do not have the time to inspect. Department statistics depicting the number of parking citations issued from 2007 - 2008 -2009 confirm this estimation (Attachment A). A survey of 16 San Gabriel Valley cities' overnight parking ordinances indicate that overnight parking restrictions range from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. with a three -hour restriction being the average number of hours enacted for restricted overnight parking (Attachment B). Under the current parking hour restrictions, Inter -Con officers now utilize the 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. time to review paperwork, take their breaks, or some other non- enforcement activity. Bringing back the 5:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. enforcement period provides Inter -Con officers with the ability to cover the entire City nightly and make more efficient use of their time. Following the 6:00 a.m. hour, Inter -Con officers can take their break, review paperwork or other administrative duties, and then begin enforcement at 7:00 a.m. for the daytime school zones, followed by business district and street sweeping enforcement. The decision to reduce the hours of prohibited overnight parking was made after consideration of a complaint made that residents are leaving for work earlier in the morning due to commute times or other reasons. Although the complaint was received by_oneres the belief was that o lh_er res idents could be inconvenienced under similar circumstances. The intent in changing the ordinance was to prevent this occurrence from happening; however, over the course of the past 21 months since the reduction of the prohibited overnight parking hour restriction, unintended consequences have resulted as described above. With respect to the original complaint of the citizen who received parking citations while moving his vehicles to the street in preparation of going to the gym, the City has an administrative review process that provides citizens with a mechanism to challenge parking citations they feel are unwarranted. A successful challenge by a citizen will result in the citation being dismissed, and the citizen need only complete an administrative review request form available at City Hall or online from the City website. The Administrative Hearing Officer confirms that there have been little or no citizen challenges under administrative review claiming they received an overnight parking ticket when they were moving vehicles around in the early morning. It is possible that the number may increase should the prohibited parking restriction be extended back to 6:00 a.m.; however, prior to February 2008 when the time restriction was until 6:00 a.m., there were very few complaints of a similar nature involving the moving of vehicles from a driveway. As of October 19, 2009, the Cashier's Office at City Hall had issued 3,122 new annual overnight parking permits and approximately 100 transfer permits for residents who currently have an annual permit that has been moved to a new vehicle. Additionally, on an annual basis approximately 11,300 temporary overnight parking permits are issued. Above and beyond these permitted vehicles, the Police Department estimates the total number of unpermitted vehicles parked overnight on City streets annually is approximately 8,600. The Police Department believes there is an issue of fairness for the thousands of residents who follow the law and obtain annual or temporary permits to know that the 8,600 vehicles parked overnight on City streets without permits receive consistent and uniformed enforcement. FISCAL IMPACT Based upon the current rate of enforcement and the estimated number of vehicles that are unpermitted that could be reached and enforced if the third hour was reinstated, the additional revenue generated could be as high as $140,000 on an annual basis. Additionally, there will be a nominal cost to change the hours on the posted signs in the City to reflect the new hours and to change the annual parking permit application information. RECOMMENDATION Provide direction to staff on whether or not to prepare an ordinance amending section 3214.1 of the Arcadia Municipal Code relating to the Uniform Traffic Ordinance concerning early morning parking hours that would return overnight parking restriction to --- fhe-ho- urs-of-300 -a.m. and_F-OQam- - - - - -- - - - - -- Approved: 1 Rlwv Don Penman, City Manager Q H Z w U a a 0 0 0 0 0 0 N N N �agwaOaa JagwanON (n jaqo300 O +r jagwa;dag U rn 3snBny Y L AInf C) N aunt ob C) C) N A eyy O O N Judy yOjeW tierugaj tienuer g 0 N r r r ATTACHMENT B San Gabriel Valley Hours of Overnight Parking Restriction CITY HOURS Alhambra 2am to 6am Azusa No Restriction Covina 2am to 4am Duarte 3am to 6am El Monte No Restriction Glendora 2am to 4am La Puente 4am to 6am La Verne 2am to 5am Monrovia No Restriction Pasadena 2am to 6am San Dimas 2am to 5am San Gabriel 2am to 6am San Marino 2am to 5am Sierra Madre 2am to 6am South Pasadena 2am to 6am Tern le City 3am to 5am