City Council Update, July 22, 2024

City Council Update, July 22, 2024

Council discussed sustainability efforts, updated our parking ordinance, and held a work session on overnight parking.

 

Information about our Revolving Energy Fund was presented. We will use this fund for energy-efficient improvements in the city. The savings from those improvements will go back into the fund to pay for more improvements.  This provides a funding mechanism for us to become more energy efficient and to reduce costs for the city.

Council approved the second reading of an update to our on-street parking ordinance. Some of the changes include:

  • The parking fine will increase from $10 to $50. We expect fewer people to try to get away with leaving their car on the street overnight.
  • We can enforce non-parking during leaf pickup to make sure no one is missed.
  • There will be a limit of 15 temporary overnight passes per license plate. Right now there is no limit.
  • Improvements in technology will allow people to get their temporary passes online. It will also make it much faster for officers to check passes while on patrol.
  • Cars left in the same spot for 48 hours will be considered abandoned and can be towed. This includes vehicles with permits.
  • The overnight ban will change to 2 AM to 5 AM instead of 2 AM to 6 AM. This will make a big difference for people with early shifts.

But with the passage of the ordinance, there is still one component of the overnight permit parking which remains to be worked out.

There are some homes where the residents literally do not have room to park their cars. We are considering defining these as hardships deserving of an annual overnight parking pass. With the increasing parking fine, we need this method of relief, otherwise constant $50 parking tickets would be too much.

We held a work session before the meeting to discuss what should qualify as a hardship and what should not. Some details are still being worked out. At our August 19 meeting, we will discuss and likely vote on the final policy.

Public safety has been counting how many cars are on the street at night. It has consistently been around 150 per night. So even if we do nothing, there are still cars on the street and not enough officers to write everyone a ticket every night.

My hope is that the new rules will help get vehicles off the street and keep sidewalks clear, allow people to get their city services like leaf pickup and snow removal, yet provide a mechanism for those in true need to get an annual pass. 

 

The meeting packet and the work session packet.

 

 

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