Josh Hardy of Marysville writes about a sign he saw in a residential area at 88th Street NE and 81st Street NE: “Can cities enforce ‘residents only parking’ on public streets? If so, how do residents in such neighborhoods have visitors (friends and family). Also, if it is a public street, are not all legally parked and licensed vehicles allowed to park without being subject to parking fines as they pay road taxes too?”
City engineer Jeff Laycock responds: “The signs were posted as a result of neighborhood complaints, and as a deterrent to ward off students whom attend Getchell High School from parking within this neighborhood. The ‘residents only parking’ signs have no legal impact for enforcement purposes so police are not enforcing the signs. … City police have been working with the School District to address off-site parking issues and to fully utilize the on-site parking available at the school. City police have patrolled the area in question and have not found any illegally parked vehicles, nor an excessive number of vehicles parked in the neighborhood, so we believe the signs are performing as the city intended.”
This is different from formal residential permit parking zones, such as those used in Everett. Everett requires residential parking permits near Everett Community College, for example, which allows residents to avoid being ticketed for parking longer than the time limit allowed.
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