SHORELINE — With a final destination being a Residential Parking Zone (RPZ) program than can be applied to neighborhoods suffering from overflow parking, city staff have passed some of the final mile markers.
At the Aug. 16 City Council meeting, staff brought the issue to Council members for the second time, after having addressed several concerns.
The program essentially would limit parking times on specified streets and would require property owners to purchase permits either if they do not have a driveway, or have more vehicles than can occupy their driveway.
A core group of neighbors who may approve such a program after the criteria are established by city staff has been identified at 160th Street and Palatine Avenue, near Shoreline Community College.
The program was first approached by city staff after Highland Terrace residents voiced concerns with parking on residential streets by Shoreline Community College students. City staff surveyed Highlands Terrace in December 2003 to decide if it would be worthwhile to pursue a program like parking restrictions, and found that the vote was split, with half of residents favoring establishing a parking zone and the other half favoring no action.
Nevertheless, because city staff expect a neighborhood RPZ program to be needed at some point, they developed a proposal.
Rich Meredith, city traffic engineer, pointed out several issues pertaining to the RPZ program that were addressed after the Council members pinpointed specific concerns. One concern, he said, was the size of the RPZ, which has been regulated to a five block minimum. Another issue is hours the parking restrictions would be in effect, which would be decided by a RPZ committee formed in the designated neighborhood.
Special event permits have also been identified in the proposal, which would be valid for 24 hours and one special event permit would be offered with every annual permit purchased, Meredith said.
Lastly, Meredith said the petition process has been investigated and rather than a vote, the department favored a survey approach. He said they recommend that each household gets one approval. Meredith said language was included in the program so if a renter and owner differed in votes, both opinions would be taken into consideration.
“We are trying to keep this simple to manage,” Meredith said. “It will keep the cost down.”
Several Council members, however, were still concerned with how approval for a RPZ program would be obtained, saying that a very defined method needed to be instilled to prevent any future problems. Council member Bob Ransom said when there are multiple people in a household, it can be unclear who cast the vote.
“We need to be clear on who counts; either a petition of property owners or a vote,” Ransom said. “We need to take a close look or this will come back to bite us.”
Council member Maggie Fimia said one person in each household should be held responsible for signing approval. She also thought the approval needed to be higher than 60 percent in order to avoid dividing a neighborhood.
The Council members also differed on their understanding of whether neighbors would have to purchase permits. Mayor Ron Hansen said there is not a requirement that residents buy a permit, since the RPZ program only applies to street parking, not garage or driveway parking. Most houses in the neighborhood have garages, he said.
Fimia, however, said that if there is not a driveway, people will have to buy permits.
The RPZ program would be included as an element of the Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program if approved by the Council.
A parking zone program would require maintenance, and in order to do so, the city can charge an annual fee of $17.50 per permit for the maintenance of the database.
City manager Steve Burkett said staff will bring back the issue at the Aug. 23 meeting for approval, so the program can be implemented before school starts.
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