[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Commission of the City of Lapeer
as Ch. 11 of the 1978 General Ordinances. Amendments noted where applicable.]
This Ordinance shall be known as a Parking Meter Ordinance.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Every individual who shall operate a vehicle as the owner
thereof, or as the agent, employee, or permittee of the owner, or
is in actual physical control of a vehicle.
The standing of a vehicle, whether occupied or not, upon
a street for any purpose other than: While actually engaged in receiving
or discharging passengers, loading or unloading merchandise, while
in obedience to traffic regulations, signs or signals, or while involuntarily
stopped by reason of causes beyond the control of the operator of
the vehicle.
Any mechanical device or meter not inconsistent with this
Ordinance placed or erected for the regulation of parking by authority
of this Ordinance. Each parking meter installed shall indicate by
proper legend the legal parking time established by the City and when
operated shall at all times indicate the balance of legal parking
time, and at the expiration of such period shall indicate illegal
or overtime parking.
Any space within a parking meter zone, adjacent to a parking
meter and which is duly designated for the parking of a single vehicle
by lines painted or otherwise durably marked on the curb or on the
surface of the street adjacent to or adjoining the parking meters.
Any restricted street upon which parking meters are installed
and in operation.
Any public street, avenue, road, alley, highway, lane, path,
or other public place located in the City of Lapeer and established
for the use of vehicles.
Any device in, upon, or by which any person or property is
or may be transported upon a highway, except a device which is operated
upon rails or tracks.
Parking meters shall be installed in such numbers and at such
places, as shall be determined by the City Commission to be necessary
to the regulation, control, and inspection of the parking of vehicles
therein. The City Commission may also designate or reserve areas as
loading zones or make other exceptions for special events or occasions
and the City Commission shall fix the time limitations for legal parking
in such zones. The hours during the day when the parking meter or
meters must be used in compliance with provisions of this ordinance
shall be 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays
recognized as legal holidays by the City of Lapeer. Parking meters
shall indicate the time limitations by designating the same on the
parking meter or meters or by appropriate signs posted in proximity
to the meters.
The parking meter installed in the parking meter zones shall
be placed upon the curb immediately adjacent to the individual parking
places hereinafter described. Each parking meter shall be placed or
set in such manner as to show or display by a signal that the parking
space adjacent to such meter is or is not legally in use. Each parking
meter installed shall indicate by a proper legend the legal parking
time established by the City and when operated shall indicate on its
dial and pointer the duration of the legal parking and on the expiration
of such period, shall indicate illegal or overtime parking.
The City Manager shall have markings painted or placed upon
the curb and/or upon the street adjacent to each parking meter for
the purpose of designating the parking space for which the meter is
to be used, and each vehicle parking adjacent or next to a meter shall
park within the lines or markings so established. No person shall
park a vehicle in such position that the same shall not be entirely
within the area so designated by such lines or markings in accordance
with Chapter 14.01, Section 8.22. All
vehicles parked in a meter parking space, other than a space marked
for parallel parking, shall be parked with front wheels to the curb.
When any vehicle is parked in any parking meter space, the operator
of the vehicle shall, upon entering the parking space, immediately
deposit in the meter such coins of the United States as may be designated
upon the parking meter and operate the meter in accordance with the
instructions on said meter and Chapter 14.01, Section 8.21.
If any vehicle remains in any meter parking space beyond the
parking limit as fixed by the coin or coins deposited in the meter
and the parking meter shall by its dial and pointer indicate such
illegal parking, such vehicle shall be considered parked overtime
and beyond the period of legal parking time, and such parking shall
constitute a violation of this Ordinance. Any vehicle remaining in
a meter parking space beyond the parking limit and receiving a citation
or ticket shall constitute a separate violation for every one hour
that it remains parked after the time indicated on the parking citation
or ticket.
No person shall deface, injure, tamper with, open, or willfully
break, destroy, or impair the usefulness of any parking meter installed
under the provisions of this Ordinance.
No person shall deposit or cause to be deposited in any parking
meter, any slugs, device, or metallic substitute, or any other substitute
for a one-cent coin, five-cent coin, ten-cent coin or twenty-five-cent
coin of the United States.
A.Â
The City of Lapeer Automobile Parking System is hereby
authorized and directed to supply enforcement officers with parking
citation tags, civil infraction citation tickets, or both, for the
purpose of giving notice to persons violating any provisions of this
ordinance. Such notice may be given by delivering such tags or tickets
to the violator or by affixing it to the vehicle by means of which
the violation occurred. Such tag or ticket shall state the registration
of the vehicle and the time of the violation and shall direct the
violator to present and settle for such tag or ticket at the Violations
Bureau on or before the date and hour specified thereon. The violation
may be settled at the Violations Bureau by paying a predetermined
fine as listed in the City of Lapeer Fee Schedule. If the violation
notice was given by parking citation tag, and is not settled within
30 days after the time of the violation, a civil infraction citation
shall be issued for the violator to appear at the Lapeer County District
Court. If the violation notice was given by civil infraction ticket,
a notice to appear at the Lapeer County District Court will be mailed
to the alleged violator. Violations of this section shall be processed
as civil infraction, and any person determined to be responsible therefore
may be ordered by Judge, Referee, or Magistrate of competent jurisdiction
to pay a civil fine of not more than $150 and costs in accordance
with section 907 of the Michigan Vehicle Code. (MCLA 257.907; MSA
9.2607). Failure to pay any fines and/or costs as ordered, when a
finding of responsibility for six or more violations has been entered,
shall result in the impoundment of the vehicle by means of which the
violation occurred.
[Amended 6-29-1994; 9-19-2011]
B.Â
Prima facie evidence; parking violators.
(1)Â
Any proceeding for a violation of this Ordinance relating
to the standing, or parking of a vehicle, proof that the particular
vehicle described in the complaint was parked in violation of any
such law or regulation, together with proof that the defendant named
in the complaint was at the time of such parking the registered owner
of such vehicle, shall constitute in evidence a presumption that the
registered owner of such vehicle was the person who parked or placed
such vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, such
violations occurred.
(2)Â
This section is hereby repealed. The repeal of this
section does not have any effect on existing prosecutions and shall
not operate as an abatement of any action or proceeding now pending
under or by virtue of this section.
(3)Â
Unlawful standing or parking of lease vehicle; presumption.
In a proceeding for a violation of Section 8.23(A)
involving a leased motor vehicle, proof that the particular vehicle
described in the citation, complaint, or warrant was used in the violation,
together with proof that the defendant named in the citation, complaining,
or warrant was the lessee of the vehicle at the time of the violation,
constitutes in evidence a presumption that the lessee of the vehicle,
not the registered owner, was the person who parked or placed the
vehicle at the point, and for the time during which, the violation
occurred.
C.Â
Procedure for impounding vehicles. Any police officer or
any employee of the City of Lapeer Automobile System may impound any
motor vehicle parked at a place where parking is prohibited by the
Ordinance or which has been involved in six or more violations of
this Ordinance for which violation tags or civil infraction tickets
have been issued and which have not been settled for as required herein.
Any person desiring to redeem such impounded vehicle may do so by
payment to the Violations Bureau of a predetermined fine as listed
on the City of Lapeer Fee Schedule per outstanding violation, or such
fine and costs as may have been assessed by a Court of competent jurisdiction,
together with the payment of towing and/or storage costs.
[Amended 6-29-1994; 9-19-2011]
Any person who violates a provision of this Ordinance that is
not designated as a civil infraction, and any person who aids or abets
or assists therein, shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to
a fine of not more than $100, or to imprisonment in the County Jail
for a period of not more than 90 days, or by both such fine and imprisonment
in the discretion of the Court.
The City Commission may by resolution authorize the use of courtesy
cards, which, when displayed in the front window of the vehicle, permits
parking in parking metered zones without payment and without regard
to the established legal parking time, such courtesy cards may be
loaned to visitors to the City on official business or to persons
under extenuating circumstances.
The City Commission may, by resolution, designate certain parking
areas for special permit parking, which areas shall be identified
by the proper placement of signs.
[Amended 1-2-1975]
The City Commission shall determine the specific requirements
necessary to secure a permit and establish the permit fee.
