The Redwood City Police Department wanted to take the
opportunity to share some information regarding recent changes to local parking
ordinances. The city recently modified
two commonly used ordinances: 1) 20.95 RCC – Parking for More Than 72
Consecutive Hours; and 2) 20.101 – Parking of Oversized Commercial Vehicles.
20.95 RCC was amended to eliminate the requirement that a
vehicle be moved 2/10 of a mile to be in compliance with the ordinance. When this section was originally enacted most
vehicles had analog odometers which an officer could usually read through the
widows and determine if a vehicle had been moved the required distance to be in
compliance. With the advent of digital
odometers that are only visible when the car is turned on it has become largely
impossible for an officer to determine exactly how far a vehicle may have been
driven after first being checked.
Officers are presently able to mark cars and determine if they have moved but not how far.
Accordingly, the section was modified to require a vehicle only be
moved one car length in a 72-hour period, as measured by the length of the car
in question. Essentially, the only thing
an officer now tries to determine is if the car has been moved at all and is
less concerned about how far. Vehicles
that do not move any distance in a 72-hour period would be in violation of the
ordinance. Essentially the law had to be
revised to reflect the realities of technological changes, something that is
happening more and more in all areas of enforcement.
20.101 RCC was modified to make it easier for an officer to
enforce and to better reflect the spirit of the original ordinance. The previous ordinance prohibited overnight
parking of any commercial vehicles
and also listed a series of other prohibited non-commercial vehicles (RVs,
trailers, etc.) The broad prohibition on all commercial vehicles, no matter the size, had the unintended
consequence of prohibiting the parking of dual use vehicles such a pickup
trucks that many residents use for commercial purposes during the week and
personal use on the weekend.
The new
ordinance restricts overnight parking on the basis of size or weight rather
than of a particular type or class.
Vehicles longer than 24.5 feet or that have a manufacturer’s gross vehicle
weight rating of 8,000 pounds or more cannot be parked on the street for more
than one hour between hours of 8 P.M. and 5 A.M. in commercial districts and
anytime in residential districts. There
are some exceptions to this that are more fully described in the
ordinance. This change lets an officer
easily determine violations as they can measure a vehicle if needed and the
weight is available in the vehicle’s registration, making it a simple process
to determine if there is a violation.
None of these changes are perfect solutions to the variety
of parking issues and challenges facing Redwood City residents but we do
believe the represent balanced compromises between competing community
interests and can be fairly enforced by officers.
