Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: OCTOBER 3, 2023
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: STEPHEN BISE, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
PREPARED BY: DAVID ROSEMAN, CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER
SUBJECT: TRANSPORTATION AND CIRCULATION COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION TO AMEND EARLY MORNING PARKING REGULATONS
SUMMARY
Consideration of a Transportation and Circulation Commission recommendation to amend Fullerton Municipal Code Section 8.44.080 pertaining to the Early Morning Parking program, policies and procedures.
RECOMMENDATION
If City Council concurs with the Transportation and Circulation Commission recommendation to make Hardship Exemption Permits more inclusive, resident friendly and attainable for residents with inadequate off-street parking, direct staff to work with the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance to amend Fullerton Municipal Code Section 8.44.080 and related polices and procedures for City Council consideration.
CITY MANAGER REMARKS
The Transportation and Circulation Commission based on staff options is recommending alterative 3 to the City Council. I recommend that the Council approve the TCC recommendation and evaluate whether further changes should be made.
Parking policy is a very difficult area to administer. I believe the TCC recommendation attempts to balance the competing interests on this issue.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statement:
Infrastructure and City Assets.
FISCAL IMPACT
Staff anticipates minor staffing costs associated with development and setup of the recommended “Early Morning Resident Parking Permit” program. Staff would base operating costs associated with administration and enforcement of the program on the number of residents participating in the program, However, staff recommends setting annual program participation and permit fees at a level to obtain full cost recovery.
DISCUSSION
Residents recently expressed concerns with the City’s Early Morning Parking prohibition program. City Council directed staff to review existing regulations, policies and procedures pertaining to the program on April 4, 2023 and recommend changes to create a more resident-friendly program, reduce neighborhood conflicts and streamline the process. City Council also suggested considerating a permit program for residents with unusual parking challenges.
History
The City of Fullerton Board of Trustees adopted Ordinance No. 314 in 1924 prohibiting parking on all paved streets between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. to preserve and extend the life of new pavement. The overnight parking restriction expanded as the City grew and constructed more paved streets. The City made minor modifications to the law over the years related to hours, justifications and exemptions. The early morning parking prohibition remains conceptualy in effect the same as when first adopted.
The period of most rapid growth in the City occurred between 1950 and 1979 with many new residents and paved streets in Fullerton. Some residents complained about the lack of parking in their neighborhoods in the early 1960’s and questioned the usefulness and necessity of the early morning parking prohibition. Similar to today, residents living in single family homes with adequate off-street parking primarily supported the early morning parking prohibition and residents in properties with insufficient off-street parking supported eliminating, or exemptions to, parking prohibitions. The controversy between neighbors over the need and fairness of the early morning parking prohibitions continued. City Council placed an advisory measure on the ballot in 1974 asking voters if they wanted to retain or eliminate the early morning parking prohibition. 68% of voters supported continuation of the ordinance.
City Council directed a number of changes to the law and its interpretation in 1979 in response to resident calls for modifications to the early morning parking prohibition, creating processes to expempt parking-deficient streets from the early morning parking prohibitions. Staff identified streets considered “parking deficient”, primarily in areas of multi-family housing, thus creating the majority of the current exempt areas. The City has since made minor amendments to the law to include the current “Select Street“ exemption process and established “Temporary” and “Hardship” exemptions (see Attachment 2 along with adopted policy and procedures, Attachment 3).
The majority of currently exempt streets are in neighborhoods zoned either R-3 or R-1 preservation zones. The homes in the older R-1 zoned neighborhoods, where the City granted most early morning parking prohibition exemptions, have narrow single-car garages. Changes to the City’s residential parking standards between 1961 and 1976 indicate that the City attempted to respond to complaints about on-site parking deficiencies by increasing the minimum residential parking standards which addressed new development parking demand but had only marginal effectiveness in addressing the citywide issue since the areas experiencing off-street parking deficiencies were already constructed and physical constraints of the properties themselves made it impossible to add more parking without demolishing units. Attachment 4 identifies the streets in the City currently approved for exemptions to the early morning parking prohibitions.
City Council created an Ad-Hoc Committee in 2017 consisting of residents and staff to seek community input regarding the need for, effectiveness of and hardships created by the early morning parking prohibition ordinance. The Committee sought to determine what changes, if any, the City should make to the existing early morning parking prohibition program. The Ad-Hoc Committee presented the follwowing three alternatives for the Transportation and Circulation Commission (TCC) to consider on December 4, 2017:
Alternative 1: Eliminate the Early Morning Parking Ordinance This strategy had little support as expressed by residents participating in the community outreach efforts and the collective opinion of the Ad-Hoc Committee.
Alternative 2: Retain the Ordinance and Create a Permit System.
This alternative would eliminate the select street exemption process and replace it with a needs-based permit system. Only Fullerton residents lacking access to sufficient off-street parking where they live could receive a permit. The City would limit the number of permits to vehicles registered at the address and charge a permit fee sufficient to cover the cost of program administration. The Ad-Hoc Committee conducted extensive outreach on this alternative and found strong support for a needs-based permit system administering.
Alternative 3: Streamline the Administration of the Existing Program.
The Committee proposed that processing exemptions would become an administrative task conducted by Public Works staff and approved by City Council without TCC review, absent any other changes to the early morning parking prohibition ordinance and the select street exemption process. TCC would become an “appeals body” to which residents may request a review of the initial administrative decision by Public Works staff.
The Commission ultimately voted to recommend Alternative 2 to City Council for approval. City Council considered the Commission recommendation on February 20, 2018 and received and filed the report, taking no action on the recommendation.
Early Morning Parking Prohibition Program Review and Options Public Works and Police Department staff met to review the early morning parking prohibition program, policies and procedures in accordance with the recent City Council directive to review the early morning parking prohibition program. The meeting began with a thorough review of the history of the program and quickly transitioned to a collaborative discussion about the challenges faced by residents and staff in processing requests, program administration and procedures and enforcement. The discussion then turned to how best to modify the program to make it more resident friendly, reduce neighborhood conflicts and streamline the process. The discussions often focused on potential impacts of proposed changes on those residents that have already secured exemptions under the current program. The group collectively settled on the following three options provided after much discussion and debate about alternatives and potential consequences.
Option 1 – Repeal the Early Morning Parking Ordinance
Repealing the early morning parking prohibition ordinance would eliminate all administrative efforts and costs associated with the program, eliminate on-street parking access disparities between single-family and multi-family housing and provide additional on-street overnight parking relief for all residents that do not have sufficient off-street parking. In addition, the City could reassign time allocated for existing ordinance enforcement to other areas of need. Repealing the ordinance would allow both resident and non-resident vehicles continuously park on most City streets for up to 72 hours before becoming subject to citation. Repealing the ordinance would require removal of thousands of ordinance-related signs posted at entrances to the City and on currently exempted streets. Staff has not researched the actual cost to signage is unknown but estimates it a significant expense. Residents that have sufficient off-street parking woud likely find this option unpopular and support the current parking prohibition. This option would likely gain little support from residents that already live on exempted streets since they would receive little to no benefit in their access to parking. This option would require the least City resources in the long-term but staff thinks it unlikely to have supported by a majority of residents at this time and does not recommend Option 1.
Option 2 – Develop a Citywide Early Morning Parking Permit Program This option is similar to the TCC recommendation to City Council in 2017. A citywide early morning parking permit program would replace the current block exemptions and hardship permits with on-street early morning parking permits available to residents with vehicles registered to addresses in the City. Such a permit parking program would require self-funding through permit fees, enforcement using available staffing resources and have a per-parcel permit limit. The permit program should treat all households similarly, not create an incentive to park on the street and exclude permits for certain types of vehicles such as trucks, trailers, recreational vehicles, campers, vehicles for hire and commercial vehicles. The program could become simpler to administer than the current program if the Cty made parking permits available online to residents without any assessment of need, however it coulld result in a significant expansion of vehicles parked overnight on City streets. If the permit program required assessment of parking deficiency, or other subjective criteria, the program could become more difficult and costly to administer than the current program, especially upon startup when thousands of residents would have to acquire permits to continue parking overnight as they do today under the existing program. Additionally, similar to Option 1, the City would have to remove all existing signage in the City or replace with signs indicating that the City allows resident parking in the early morning hours by permit only.
Although an early morning parking permit program may appear viable, the implementation of such a program would require significant effort and cost and would most likely result in negative consequences for residents benefiting from the current program. For example, residents that currently live on exempted streets which do not require permits or pay any fees to park overnight, would, have to obtain permits and pay fees under a citywide permit program. Likewise, residents that live on streets where with prohibited early morning parking could potentially see eroded program benefits as neighbors obtain permits and begin parking overnight on their block. Staff does not recommend Option 2 because replacing the existing early morning parking prohibition program with a resident-only permit parking program would likely prove costly to implement and administer and would most likely benefit fewer residents than it impacts.
Option 3 – Modify the Hardship Exemption Permit
This option would retain the majority of the existing early morning parking prohibition ordinance, continuing both the select street exemptions and temporary permits as currently administered, issued and enforced. However, the City would revamp the hardship exemption permit program to be more inclusive, resident friendly and easily attainable for most residents experiencing a shortage of off-street parking. The City only issues hardship exemption permits to specifically address an interim parking deficiency at a single-family residence due to a temporary increase in household parking demand that exceeds all available off-street parking spaces. The City issues hardship exemption permits in one-year increments from the date of issuance and normally renewable for up to four years. The City issues a maximum of one permit per residence to park immediately adjacent to the property which received the permit. Staff evaluates applications for hardship exemption permits on a strict set of criteria outlined in the ordinance. The Police Department has sole discretion to issue permits. The hardship exemption requires a $250 non-refundable administrative fee, If the City grants the request, annual permit fees apply. The City only issues a few hardship exemption permits each year as a result of the strict rules and high cost.
Relaxing the evaluation criteria and streamlining permit issuance processing provides the most viable approach to deliver on-street parking relief to disadvantaged residents without disrupting the benefits afforded others by the current ordinance provisions. Staff recommends amending the City’s hardship exemption permit program similar to the City of Brea overnight parking permit program. Additionally, modification of the hardship exemption permit program would most likely not result in a need to remove or replace existing ordinance signs posted in the City. Recommended revisions to the hardship exemption permit program could include, but are not limited to, the following:
Eliminate the single-family residence requirement, thus allowing the City to issue permits to residents of all types of housing units.
Expand the number of allowable permits from one to two per parcel for single family homes and allow one permit per housing unit for townhomes, condominiums, apartments and other multi-family housing parcels.
Eliminate the requirement to affix permits to the rear bumper.
Eliminate the requirement to park permitted vehicles immediately adjacent to the registered address and replace with a requirement to park within close proximity of the residence.
Eliminate the requirement that only property owners can apply for permits which would allow any occupant that established residency in the City the opportunity to apply for a permit.
Eliminate the interim family hardship provisions which would allow allow the City to issue permits regardless of the applicant reasons for seeking a permit.
Eliminate the four-year limit on permit renewals.
Eliminate onsite inspections by the Police Department as a condition of permit issuance or permit renewals.
Establish a provision to issue permits only for passenger cars and commercial vehicles under 6,000 lbs gross vehicle weight.
Establish a provision that the applicant must self-certify that the property complies with all City Code requirements related to on-site parking.
Establish a provision that all on-site parking spaces must be free of obstructions and residents haved more operable registered vehicles parked at the property than the garage and driveway spaces an accomodate.
Establish a provision that applicants must provide a listing of all registered vehicles parked at the residence.
Establis a provision that allows transfering permits between registered vehicles of the same household.
Establish that the City will not issue permits to residents that reside on a street that already has a select street exemption.
Establish a provision that the City issues permits on a calendar year basis and renewable annually.
Rename the permit from a hardship exemption permit to an early morning resident parking permit.
TCC recommended administering the application and approval processes through an online portal to expedite review and issuance of the new early morning resident parking permits. TCC also recommended adjusting the annual permit fees to provide for full cost recovery of the new permit program. However, staff anticipates the City could significantly reduce the permit cost since the permit processing would no longer require an onsite inspection and the likely significant number of permits issued on an annual basis. Staff anticipated a strong demand for permits upon the initiation of the new permit, which will stabilize over time.
The Transportation and Circulation Commission unanimously concurred with the City Traffic Engineer’s recommendation to amend the hardship exemption permit program as outlined in Option 3 and move the matter forward to City Council for their consideration.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – Powerpoint Presentation
Attachment 2 – F.M.C. Early Morning Parking Ordinance
Attachment 3 – Early Morning Parking Exemption Policy and Procedures Attachment 4 – Early Morning Parking Exemption Map
Attachment 5 – TCC Agenda Report September 14, 2023
cc: City Manager Eric J. Levitt
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