Agenda Report
Fullerton City Council
MEETING DATE: MARCH 19, 2024
TO: CITY COUNCIL / SUCCESSOR AGENCY
SUBMITTED BY: STEPHEN BISE, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
PREPARED BY: DAVE ROSEMAN, CITY TRAFFIC ENGINEER
SUBJECT: EARLY MORNING PARKING PILOT PROGRAM
SUMMARY
Staff requests City Council consider Transportation and Circulation Commission recommendation for Early Morning Parking program, policies and procedures and pilot program.
PROPOSED MOTION
Adopt Resolution No. 2024-XXX.
RESOLUTION NO. 2024-XXX – A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING A PILOT STREET PARKING PROGRAM
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
Approve the Proposed Motion
Direct staff to present a Municipal Code amendment for Early Morning Parking Direct staff to develop a citywide Early Morning Parking permit program Other option brought by City Council.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the Proposed Motion or amending the Hardship Exemption process.
CITY MANAGER REMARKS
To be able to evaluate the Transportation Commission’s recommendation, the City Manager recommends a 2-year pilot program modifying the hardship permit process in accordance with the Transportation Commission recommendation.
The Pilot program concept evolved after the Transportation Commission action to provide for their recommendation to be implemented, but to do it on a 2 year pilot program basis to determine the effectiveness of the program.
PRIORITY POLICY STATEMENT
This item matches the following Priority Policy Statement:
Infrastructure and City Assets.
FISCAL IMPACT
No fiscal impact to the Fiscal Year 2023-24 Adopted Budget. The current fiscal year budget would absorb staff time and operational and enforcement costs associated with the Early Morning Resident Parking Permit pilot program Staff would assess future costs for program administration and enforcement of based on the number of residents participating in the program.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
City Council directed staff to review existing parking regulations, policies and procedures at its April 4, 2023 and recommend changes for a more streamlined, resident friendly program that would reduce neighborhood conflicts and consider a permit program for residents with unusual parking challenges.
History
The Board of Trustees of the City of Fullerton adopted Ordinance No. 314 in 1924 prohibiting parking on all paved streets between the hours of 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 constructed new paved roads. The City made minor modifications over the years related to hours, justifications and exemptions. However, the early morning parking prohibition conceptually remains in effect City rapidly grew between 1950 and 1979, including many new paved streets. Some residents in the 1960s complained about the lack of parking in their neighborhoods and questioned the necessity of the early morning parking prohibition. Similar to today, Residents primarily in single-family homes with adequate off-street parking supported the early morning parking prohibition while those residing in properties with insufficient off-street parking supported eliminating, or exemptions to, the parking prohibitions. City Council posed an advisory ballot question to voters 1974, asked if residents preferred retaining or eliminating the early morning parking prohibition. 68% of voters supported continuation parking prohibitions.
City Council directed several changes to the parking regulations in 1974, allowing exemptions on streets staff identified as parking deficient streets, primarily in multi-family housing areas. The City has also made minor amendments to create the Select Street Exemption process and establish temporary and hardship exemptions.
Most exempt streets are in neighborhoods zoned R-3 or R-1 preservation zones. The older R-1 zoned neighborhoods, which have most of the early morning parking prohibition exemptions, have homes with narrow single-car garages. Changes to City residential parking standards between 1961 and 1976 responded to on-site parking deficiencies by increasing minimum residential parking standards which addressed new development parking demand but only marginally addressed citywide parking issues for older homes with insufficient parking.
City Council created an ad-hoc committee of residents and staff to seek community input on parking needs, effectiveness and hardships created by the early morning parking prohibition and recommend changes to the early morning parking prohibition program. The Ad-Hoc Committee presented the following alternatives to the Transportation and Circulation Commission (TCC) on December 4, 2017:
Alternative 1: Eliminate the early morning parking restrictions. This alternative has little support from residents or the Ad-Hoc Committee.
Alternative 2: Retain early morning parking restrictions and create a permit system. This alternative would replace the select street exemption process with a needs-based permit system, limited to Fullerton residents without sufficient off-street parking at their residence. The program would limit the number of permits to vehicles registered at the address charge permit fee sufficient to cover program administration costs. The Ad-Hoc Committee conducted extensive outreach on this alternative and found strong support for a needs-based permit system.
Alternative 3: Streamline existing program administration. The Committee proposed directing Public Works staff to administratively process exemptions without TCC review. TCC would become an appeals body for residents requesting review of Public Works staff administrative decisions.
The Commission recommended City Council approve Alternative 2. City Council considered the Commission recommendation February 20, 2018 and opted to receive and file the report, taking no action on the recommendation.
Early Morning Parking Prohibition Program Review and Options The Public Works and Police Departments reviewed the early morning parking prohibition program, policies and procedures, particularly potential impacts of any changes to residents that already secured exemptions. The group developed the following three options provided:
Option 1 – Repeal Early Morning Parking Regulations
The City will not consider this option due to program effectiveness and history Repealing the early morning parking prohibition ordinance would eliminate all administrative efforts and costs, would eliminate on-street parking access disparities between single-family and multi-family housing and provide additional on-street overnight parking relief for all residents with insufficient off-street parking. The City could reallocate time spent on enforcement to other areas. Repealing the regulations would allow continuous resident and non-resident vehicle parking on most City streets for up to 72 hours without citation. Repealing the regulations would also require the removing thousands of signs posted at City entrances and on exempted streets which would incur significant cost. Residents with sufficient parking or on exempted streets would likely not favor this option. This option would require the least long term City resources in the long term but would unlikely have support by most residents. Staff does not recommend Option 1.
Option 2 - Develop a Citywide Early Morning Parking Permit Program This option would replace block exemptions and hardship permits with on-street early morning parking permits for residents with vehicles registered to addresses in the City. The program would self-fund through permit fees, use available staffing for enforcement and have a per-parcel permit limit. The permit program would 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. An online parking permits could simplify program administration but could significantly increase vehicles parked on City streets overnight. Requiring a parking deficiency assessment or other subjective criteria would make the program more difficult and costly to administer, especially upon startup when thousands of residents would apply for permits to continue parking overnight as they do under the existing program. The City would need to remove or replace all signage in the City with permit-only signage.
Implementing a parking permit program would require significant effort and cost and would most likely result in negative consequences for residents benefiting from the current program. Staff does not recommend Option.
Option 3a – Modify the Hardship Exemption Permit
This option would retain most early morning parking prohibitions, continuing both the select street exemptions and temporary permits with a inclusive, resident-friendly hardship exemption permit program. The City only issues hardship exemption permits to 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 for one-year increments from the date of issuance, renewable for up to four years with a maximum one permit issued per residence. Staff evaluates applications for hardship exemption permits on a strict set of criteria outlined in the ordinance and issues permits at the Police Department discretion. Applicants must pay a $250 non-refundable fee to apply for a hardship exemption and annual permit fees apply if the Police Department grants the request. The City issues only a few hardship exemption permits each year due to the strict rules and high cost.
Relaxing the evaluation criteria and streamlining permit issuance 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 hardship exemption permit program. Modifying the hardship exemption permit program would not require changes to parking signage. Recommended revisions to the hardship exemption permit program could include, but are not limited to, the following:
Eliminating single-family residence requirement and issue permits residents in all housing unit types Expanding the number of 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 allow parking within close proximity of the residence Allow any occupant to apply for a permit instead of only the property owner Eliminate interim family hardship provisions and issue permits regardless of reason Eliminate the four-year limit on permit renewals
Eliminate Police Department onsite inspections as a condition of permit issuance or permit renewals Allow only passenger cars and commercial vehicles under 6,000 lbs gross vehicle weight as eligible for permits.
Require applicant self-certification that the property complies with all City code requirements related to on-site parking Require all on-site parking spaces remain free of obstructions and determine that the property has more operable registered vehicles parked than garage and driveway spaces can reasonably accommodate Require applicants to provide a listing of all registered vehicles parked at the residence Allow transferring permits between vehicles registered at the same household Prohibit issuing permits to residents on streets with a select street exemption Issue permits on a calendar year basis and renewable annually Rename the permit from a hardship exemption permit to an early morning resident parking permit.
Staff also recommended administering the application and approval through an online portal to expedite the review and issuance of new early morning resident parking permits and adjusting annual permit fees for full program cost recovery. Removing the onsite inspection requirement would likely reduce the permit cost. Staff anticipates there a strong demand for permits at initiation of the new program which would stabilize over time.
Option 3b – Modify the Hardship Exemption Permit on a Pilot Program Basis Streamline administration of a two-year pilot program consistent with Option 3a, issuing permits for a period no longer than one year.
The Transportation and Circulation Commission concured with the City Traffic Engineer’s recommendation to amend the hardship exemption permit program as outlined in Option 3a. Staff now recommends a two-year pilot program (Option 3b) to evaluate the program effectiveness.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 – Draft Resolution 2024-XXX
cc: City Manager Eric J. Levitt
Early Morning Parking Pilot Program
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