The City Council finds that:
A. Certain residential areas in the City are subjected to commuter vehicle
parkings, therefore depriving the residents of those areas of spaces
in which to park their own vehicles.
B. Those residential streets are also subjected to a high degree of
commuter traffic which substantially reduces the quality of the ambient
air level.
C. The establishment of a parking permit program for certain affected
areas should facilitate efficient movement of traffic by providing
for parking preference during certain hours of the day and days of
the week. Therefore, the City considers it to be in the interest of
the people of the City to provide for the establishment of a residential
permit parking program to ensure primary access to available parking
spaces by neighborhood residents and also to provide a cleaner ambient
air level.
For the purpose of this article, the following words and terms
listed in this section shall have the following meanings:
COMMUTER VEHICLE
A motor vehicle parked in a residential area by a person
not a resident of that residential area.
PROPRIETOR
A person who owns or leases real estate within a residential
area of which he or she is not a resident, but who owns or manages
a business enterprise or professional office maintained at that address;
for the purpose of this article, a proprietor shall be entitled to
one parking permit for that business or professional office address.
RESIDENT
A person who owns or leases real property within a residential
area and who maintains either a voting residence or bona fide occupancy,
or both, at that address.
RESIDENTIAL AREA
A contiguous area containing public highways or parts of
public highways primarily abutted by residential property or residential
and nonbusiness property (such as schools, parks, places of worship,
hospitals and nursing homes).
The residential areas designated in §
331-4 of this article are those deemed impacted and therefore eligible for residential parking on the basis of the following criteria:
A. During any period between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday, except legal holidays, the number of vehicles parked
(or standing), legally or illegally, on the streets in the area is
equal to 70% or more of the legal, on-street parking capacity of the
area. For the purpose of this criterion, a legal parking space shall
be 20 linear feet.
B. During the same period as specified in Subsection
A above, 10% or more of the vehicles parked (or standing) on the streets in the area are not registered in the name of a person residing in the area. For the purpose of this criterion, the latest available information from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Licensing of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation regarding registration of motor vehicles shall be used; provided, however, that in determining that a specific area identified as impacted and eligible for residential permit parking be designated as a residential permit parking area, the following factors are taken into consideration:
(1) The local and metropolitan needs with respect to clean air and environment.
(2) The possibility of a reduction in total vehicle miles driven in the
City.
(3) The likelihood of alleviating traffic congestion, illegal parking
and related health and safety hazards.
(4) The proximity of public transportation to the residential area.
(5) The desire and need of the residents for residential permit parking
and their willingness to bear the administrative costs in connection
with it.
(6) The need for parking in excess of the residential permit parking
program in proximity to establishments located in the residential
permit parking area and used by the general public for religious,
health or educational purposes.
Application for a residential parking permit shall be made to
the Director of Public Safety by the person desiring the permit, who
shall be only the owner or the driver of a motor vehicle who resides
on or is a proprietor of property immediately adjacent to a street
or other location within a residential permit parking area. A separate
application shall be required for each motor vehicle. Each application
shall contain the following information: the name of the owner or
the driver, as the case may be, of the motor vehicle; the address
of the resident or the proprietor, as the case may be; the make, model
and registration number of the motor vehicle; and the driver number
as taken from the applicant's current driver's license.
At the discretion of the Director of Public Safety, the applicant
shall be required, at the time of making application, to present his
driver's license and the vehicle registration card.
Upon receipt of the application and determination by the Director
of Public Safety that the information upon the application shows that
the applicant is entitled to a residential parking permit, the Director
of Public Safety shall issue to the applicant a residential parking
permit, which shall be valid for the remainder of the calendar year.
The permit shall display the serial and registration number of the
motor vehicles, the residential parking area number, and the expiration
date. The permit shall be renewable annually before the expiration
date upon making application for renewal. It shall be unlawful and
a violation of this article for any person to display other than the
current and valid permit while standing or parking in a residential
permit parking area at any time when those permits are to be displayed.
Temporary parking permits may be issued by the Director of Public
Safety to bona fide visitors of residents of a designated residential
permit parking area.
The Director of Public Safety shall have authority to revoke
the residential parking permit of any permit holder found to be in
violation of any provision of this article. Upon written notification
of the revocation, the permit holder shall surrender the permit to
the Director of Public Safety. Failure to do so, when so requested,
shall constitute a violation of this article, provided that any person
receiving such a notice may, within 10 days after the date of the
notice, appeal to Council for a hearing on the revocation, and the
decision of Council shall be final.
Any person who violates any provision of this article shall,
upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $15 and
costs, provided that it shall be the duty of the police officers and
of parking enforcement personnel of the City to report to the appropriate
official all violations of any provision of this article, indicating,
in each case: the section violated; the license number of the vehicle
involved in the violation; the location where the violation took place;
and any other facts that might be necessary in order to secure a clear
understanding of the circumstances attending the violation. The police
officer or other person making the report shall also attach to or
place upon every such vehicle a notice stating that the vehicle was
parked in violation of this article. The notice shall contain instructions
to the owner or driver of the vehicle that if such owner or driver
will report to the office of the Director of Public Safety, or other
designated office of the City, and pay the sum of $15 within 48 hours
after the time of notice, that act will save the violator from prosecution
and from payment of the costs prescribed in the first sentence of
this section.