Fremont City Council Meeting: 04/02/24 07:00 PM
3300 Capitol Avenue Div/Dept: City Manager's Office
Fremont, CA 94538 Category: Presentations
SCHEDULED
Sponsors:
COUNCIL STAFF REPORT (ID # 5108) DOC ID: 5108
Updated: 4/1/2024 8:46 AM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 1 LARGE VEHICLE PARKING ENFORCEMENT POLICY CONSIDERATION – Consideration of Procedures and Guidelines Outlining Parking Enforcement Near City Schools and Parks in Response to Council Request for Analysis Contact Persons:
Name: Allen DeMers Hans Larsen
Title: Deputy City Manager Public Works Director
Div/Dept: City Manager's Office Public Works
Phone: 510-494-4651 510-494-4722
E-Mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Executive Summary: The Fremont City Council directed staff to assess policy options to restrict large vehicles from parking near City schools and parks. This report provides an overview of City staff’s research and planning and identifies the expense and staffing required to enforce new comprehensive parking restrictions on large vehicles near schools and parks on a large scale. Because of staff’s existing authority and ability to take targeted enforcement actions with existing resources, combined with significant costs associated with a large vehicle parking ban at all Fremont schools, staff recommends that Council receive this report and take no further action at this time.
BACKGROUND: At the November 7, 2023, City Council meeting, Fremont residents voiced concerns about safety concerns associated with vehicular homelessness and large vehicles parked near Hirsh Elementary School, John M. Horner Middle School, Irvington High School, and Robertson High School. In response to residents’ concerns, staff informed the City Council and the public that an informational staff report detailing the legal framework and the City’s approach to vehicular homelessness would be presented at the November 14, 2023, City Council meeting.
At the November 14, 2023, City Council meeting, the City Council reviewed a report detailing the legal framework that guides City staff in their response to community concerns surrounding occupied vehicles on City streets, outlining the framework by which staff deploy resources to address vehicle related concerns, and updating the City Council on additional forthcoming actions and considerations associated with the City of Fremont’s Homelessness Response Plan, which is being prepared at this time. The City Council directed staff to explore the feasibility of large vehicle parking restrictions that might address safety concerns near schools and to a lesser degree near parks.
The City of Fremont contains 41 school sites that would be subject to a blanket school- based large vehicle parking ban. Additionally, the City of Fremont contains 73 parks that could be subject to additional enforcement if so directed by the City Council.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The City Manager and Public Works traffic safety professionals have within their authority the ability to implement safety improvements near schools and other high-impact traffic areas. These improvements can include prohibiting large vehicles from parking in places that impact students’ and parents’ safe routes to and from schools.
These guidelines are set forth in Fremont’s Municipal Code and Safe Routes to School Council Staff Report (ID # 5108) Meeting of April 2, 2024 Updated: 4/1/2024 8:46 AM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 2 Program and are exclusively traffic-and-pedestrian-safety-based considerations. Thoughtful applications of these guidelines will best meet the City Council’s interest regarding restricting large vehicle parking. Due to the substantially greater justification/need to address safe routes to and from schools, and in recognition of limited available resources to conduct parking enforcement, staff focused on analyzing school-based large vehicle restrictions. Restricting large vehicle parking near parks is less justified by traffic-safety- standards and is not immediately feasible given the limits on available staffing and resources. In general, applying a citywide large vehicle ban to both schools and parks would substantially increase the staffing and material expense outlined in this document.
Current/Planned Large Vehicle Parking Intervention
City staff are in the process of restricting large vehicle parking at school sites that the City and the School District have identified as most impacted by large vehicles (including Horner and Hirsch Schools). This small-scale intervention will restrict vehicles taller than 6’0” feet in height on multiple commuting paths into and away from Horner and Hirsch schools. This work is already underway using the Safe Routes to School model and in reliance on existing Police Department and Public Works budget and staffing authorizations. If the City Council seeks to expand this model of large vehicle parking enforcement to additional areas of the City, additional staff, equipment and budget will be required.
Prospective Citywide Ban on Large Vehicle Parking Near Schools
• Parking Restriction Sign Implementation: In order to enforce large vehicle parking near schools, staff must first adequately sign/notice impacted areas of the new restriction. Public Works staff estimates that parking signage required to establish no-parking areas will cost approximately $15,000 per school. Implementing restrictions at 39 additional Fremont Unified School District schools would cost approximately $585,000 in engineering and maintenance materials and labor costs.
• Police Parking Enforcement: The Fremont Police Department currently has two Parking Compliance Officers (PCOs) working opposite patrol shifts. This allows for daily PCO coverage to address parking issues throughout the entire city. Only one PCO is on duty each day of the week. On average, a PCO responds to approximately ten locations per day to conduct compliance checks, issue citations, and/or facilitate the tow of a vehicle. If there is a hostile subject or suspect vehicle involved in other criminal activity, or if a vehicle needs to be towed, the PCO must have sworn Police Officers respond to their location. Additionally, a Community Service Officer (CSO) is assigned to oversee the PCO duties, and to manage the workload. The PCO program falls under the Traffic Unit reporting to the Traffic Lieutenant and Traffic Sergeant.
To add 39 additional locations to the current parking enforcement model’s areas of responsibility, staff assesses that two additional Police Officers, two additional Community Service Officers, and four additional Parking Compliance Officers would need to be authorized at a total expense of approximately $985,000 in ongoing expense. This enhanced staffing model contemplates all aspects of parking enforcement that would accompany the expanded model, including the potential to arrange time-intensive activities such as towing a vehicle or managing interactions with uncooperative residents. Each of those staff members would also require the conventional outlay of vehicles, equipment, and uniforms that accompany their Council Staff Report (ID # 5108) Meeting of April 2, 2024 Updated: 4/1/2024 8:46 AM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 3 classifications. Additional explanation of Police Department staffing considerations associated with citywide enforcement of this model consist of the following:
o Add two Police Officers (with equipment and two vehicles): Two additional Police Officers would provide adequate personnel to respond to parking issues in support of the City’s Mobile Evaluation Team (MET) and the newly created PCOs. The addition of two Police Officers would allow patrol officers to stay within their designated policing districts. Serious parking incidents require anywhere from two to three patrol officers to respond, leaving only one to two patrol officers patrolling a district of approximately 30 square miles.
o Add two Community Service Officers (with equipment and two vehicles): Two additional Community Service Officers would be required as a result of the increased number of locations Parking Compliance Officers would be responsible for. The two Community Service Officers would be needed to supervise the PCO program and handle the administrative work associated with the increased PCO workforce.
o Add 4 Parking Compliance Officers (with equipment and 2 vehicles): Fremont Police Department currently breaks down patrolling districts into three zones, with each zone covering approximately 30 square miles. The Parking Compliance Officer program currently assigns one PCO per shift to patrol the entire City of Fremont. The addition of four Parking Compliance Officers, (for a total of 6 PCOs), would ensure a PCO is assigned to each patrolling district during the day
Having reviewed the substantial expense associated with this potential action, City staff advise caution in moving forward with a school-based citywide large vehicle ban at this time. The City Council will receive a comprehensive homelessness response plan draft document in May of 2024 and may wish to consider how best to spend available resources after having received and considered that document. Additionally, as demonstrated by the City’s action to address large vehicle parking issues on a limited basis, the City Manager and Public Works staff can focus limited available resources on the areas of the City that most require a traffic safety-based intervention.
FISCAL IMPACT: If the City Council directs staff to proceed with a citywide ban of large vehicles parked near all City of Fremont schools, the one-time and ongoing fiscal impact of that action are estimated in the table below.
Large Vehicle Parking
Program Enforcement
Near Schools Program
Element
One-time
Expense Ongoing Expense
Total Impact to
Fiscal Year
2024/25 Budget
Sign Installation (39 school
sites)
$585,000 $585,000
Ongoing Sign Maintenance Negligible
Two Police Officers $465,780 $465,780
Two Community Service
Officers
$268,880 $268,880
Council Staff Report (ID # 5108) Meeting of April 2, 2024 Updated: 4/1/2024 8:46 AM by Alberto Quintanilla Page 4 Four Parking Compliance
Officers
$447,576 $447,576
Equipment to Support New
Staff
$7,000 $7,000
Vehicles to Support New
Staff
$498,000 $53,000 $551,000
Total $1,083,000 $1,242,236 $2,325,236
Staff did not analyze the impact of large vehicle enforcement near all City parks in great detail but based on the number of parks and the cost associated with enhanced enforcement at each of the City of Fremont’s schools, enforcement at all of the City of Fremont’s 73 parks in addition to all of the City’s 41 schools would almost triple the cost estimates outlined in the table above, creating a total new parking enforcement expense in excess of $5 Million.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: N/A
ATTACHMENTS: None.
RECOMMENDATION: Receive this staff report, including an update on the City’s current efforts to restrict large vehicle parking at school sites deemed most impacted. No additional action recommended at this time.