Chapter 10.11
PARKING ENFORCEMENT

Sections:

10.11.005    DEFINITIONS.

10.11.010    PARKING VIOLATIONS.

10.11.020    ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES.

10.11.030    PENALTIES.

10.11.040    FAILURE TO APPEAR.

10.11.050    NUISANCE DECLARED - APPEAL - ENFORCEMENT.

10.11.060    OTHER ENFORCEMENT.

10.11.070    COSTS OF IMPOUND.

10.11.080    ENFORCEMENT - EXEMPT PERIODS.

10.11.005 DEFINITIONS.

The definitions set forth in BMC 10.10.020 shall apply to this chapter. In addition, the following definitions are applicable in this chapter unless the context otherwise requires:

(a)    "Director" means Director of Public Works or other department director authorized by the Mayor to enforce this chapter, or their designee.

(b)    "Right-of-way" or "street" means any highway, avenue, lane, road, drive, place, boulevard, alley, right-of-way, way, sidewalk, planting or parking strip, shoulder and every way or place in the City of Bremerton open as a matter of right to public vehicular travel or parking or other similar public use.

(c)    "Recreational vehicle" means a travel trailer, motor home, truck camper, or camping trailer that is primarily designed and used as temporary living quarters, is either self-propelled or mounted on or drawn by another vehicle, is transient and is not immobilized or permanently affixed to a mobile home lot.

(d)    "Vehicle" means truck, vehicle, van, tractor, bus, trailer (including boat trailer with or without a boat situated thereon), recreational vehicle, tractor or semi-trailer, motorcycle, dune buggy, off-road vehicle, or marine vehicle (trailered or nontrailered), whether licensed or unlicensed, or motorized or nonmotorized, unless otherwise defined. (Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 5122 §3, 2010: Ord. 4898 §3, 2004)

10.11.010 PARKING VIOLATIONS.

In addition to those statutes set forth in the Model Traffic Ordinance as adopted in BMC 10.04.010 restricting standing, stopping and parking of vehicles, it shall be unlawful and punishable as a civil infraction for any person to commit any of the following actions:

(a)    Parking in Time Limit and No Repark Zones.

(1)    Downtown Core. Where a time limit and no reparking is established by official signs, no vehicle may be reparked on either side of the same named street (i.e., Pacific Avenue or 5th Street) in the downtown core during the same calendar day after the expiration of the posted time limit. For purposes of this section, a vehicle shall be deemed to be reparked and in violation of this section even if the vehicle is moved prior to the expiration of the posted time limit and is reparked on either side of the same named street.

(2)    Residential. Where posted, it is unlawful for a vehicle to remain parked, or to be reparked within four (4) blocks of the original parking location within a residential parking permit area, if the parking time or combined parking time for the vehicle exceeds the time limitations of the parking zone. Vehicles issued permits under Chapter 10.10 BMC shall be exempt from posted time limits according to the terms of the permit.

(b)    Counterfeit Permits. It is unlawful for any person to copy, reproduce, or otherwise counterfeit a parking permit or to possess any counterfeit copy or facsimile of a City parking permit.

(c)    Unauthorized Use of Permit. It is unlawful for any person issued a parking permit by the City to:

(1)    Lend, sell or assign said permit to another;

(2)    Display any permit issued to another; or

(3)    Display any permit issued when the recipient of the permit is no longer eligible pursuant to Chapter 10.10 BMC.

(d)    Counterfeit Tokens, Permits or Scrip. It is unlawful to manufacture, use or possess any counterfeit of an official token, parking permit or scrip distributed by the City for use in any fee collection device.

(e)    Tampering with Parking Meters or Collection Devices. No person shall deface, injure, tamper with, open, or willfully break, destroy, or impair the usefulness of any parking meter or collection device.

(f)    Unauthorized Disabled Parking. It is a traffic infraction for any person to park a vehicle in a public place provided on private property without charge or on public property reserved for physically disabled persons without a placard or special license plate as provided for in BMC 10.10.140 and RCW 46.19.050. If a person is charged with a violation, the person shall not be determined to have committed an infraction if the person produces in court or before the court appearance the placard or special license plate required under this section. Additionally, it is a traffic infraction pursuant to subsection (a) of this section for any vehicle displaying the placard or special license plate as provided for in BMC 10.10.140 and RCW 46.19.050 to violate any time restrictions imposed on nonmetered, on-street parking places reserved for persons with physical disabilities as well as nonreserved, on-street parking spaces.

(g)    Expired Registration. It is unlawful to park any vehicle in a public right-of-way or on public property without a current vehicle license registration tab displayed according to law.

(h)    Unlawful Parking in City Lot. In addition to other enforcement remedies, it is unlawful to park any vehicle in a City-owned parking lot or structure without paying the posted fee or parking in excess of posted time limits or in violation of use restrictions.

(i)    Obliterating Tire Markings. It is unlawful to conceal, obliterate, or erase markings on vehicle tires made by a parking enforcement officer for the purpose of recording parking time.

(j)    False Application. It is unlawful for any person to intentionally provide false or misleading information on any application for a parking permit.

(k)    Failure to Surrender Permit. The Director is authorized to revoke the residential parking permit of any person found to be in violation of its intended use. Upon written notification of permit revocation by the Director, it shall be unlawful for any person to fail to surrender a parking permit as directed.

(l)    Parking or Storage of Vehicles within Right-of-Way. Except when otherwise provided by right-of-way use permit or other appropriate City or State permit, the parking or storage of vehicles shall be subject to the following parking restrictions:

(1)    Time Restriction. Parking or storage of any vehicle in excess of seventy-two (72) consecutive hours in a public right-of-way shall be unlawful. During continued consecutive hours of parking, after the initial seventy-two (72) hour period, relocation of the vehicle within five hundred (500) feet, and still within a public right-of-way, shall be considered to be the same location within the right-of-way for purposes of calculating the seventy-two (72) hour parking restriction.

(2)    Oversized Vehicles – Additional Restrictions. The City Council finds that the parking and storage of vehicles exceeding twenty-two (22) feet in length (including any attached trailer) or with a maximum gross vehicle weight exceeding ten thousand (10,000) pounds ("oversized vehicles") presents unacceptable risks and hazards to public health, safety and welfare when such vehicles are parked or stored on City streets at times when such vehicles are not engaged in business or commercial activity. Because of these risks and hazards to public health, safety and welfare, the City Council further finds that the parking and storage of such vehicles on City streets should be minimized. Therefore, in addition to the restrictions set forth in subsection (l)(1) of this section, no oversized vehicle may repark in a previously parked location in excess of one hundred twenty (120) hours within any consecutive thirty (30) day period. Relocation of any oversized vehicle within five hundred (500) feet and still within a public right-of-way shall be considered a previously parked location within the right-of-way.

(m)    Parking Against Traffic. Except when otherwise provided by City code, ordinance or resolution, it shall be unlawful for any vehicle to stop or park upon a right-of-way unless:

(1)    Stopped or parked parallel (or at an angle when authorized) to the traveled portion of the right-of-way;

(2)    In the direction of authorized traffic movement of the right-of-way immediately adjacent thereto; and

(3)    Within twelve (12) inches of the curb or as close as practicable to the edge of the shoulder.

In the event of a conflict between the provisions of this subsection and RCW 46.61.575 adopted as part of the Washington Model Traffic Ordinance pursuant to Chapter 10.04 BMC, the provisions of this subsection shall apply.

(n)    Parking Fee – Nonpayment. It is unlawful to park a vehicle in any parking space monitored by a parking fee collection device, including parking meters, without payment as indicated on the collection device.

(o)    Parking Fee – Time Permitted. It is unlawful to park a vehicle in any parking space monitored by a collection device, including parking meters, for a consecutive period of time longer than that limited period of time for which parking is lawfully permitted in the time zone, irrespective of the amount of money deposited in such collection device. (Ord. 5174 §2, 2011: Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 5122 §4, 2010; Ord. 5114 §2, 2010; Ord. 4898 §4, 2004; Ord. 4865 §4, 2003; Ord. 4703, Amended, 05/25/2000; Ord. 4667, Amended, 10/28/1999; Ord. 4543, Amended, 03/14/1996; Ord. 4425 §1, 1993; Ord. 4362 §1, 1992; Ord. 4271 §4, 1990; Ord. 4260 §4, 1990; Ord. 4211 §6 (in part), 1989)

10.11.020 ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES.

(a)    The parking regulations set forth in this chapter and Chapter 10.04 BMC shall be enforced by the City’s police officers and the City’s parking enforcement officers.

(b)    If any vehicle is found parked, standing, or stopped in violation of this title, or otherwise violates the provisions of this title, the officer finding the vehicle shall take its license number and may take any other information displayed on the vehicle which may identify its user and shall conspicuously affix to the vehicle a notice of parking infraction. A notice of parking infraction represents a determination that a parking infraction has been committed.

(c)    In any parking violation case involving an infraction relating to the stopping, standing, or parking of a vehicle, proof that the particular vehicle described in the notice of parking infraction was stopping, standing, or parking in violation of any provision of this title, together with proof of registered ownership of the vehicle at the time of the violation, shall constitute in evidence a prima facie presumption that the registered owner of the vehicle was the person who parked or placed the vehicle at the point where, and for the time during which, the violation occurred, provided the procedure for issuing a parking violation set forth herein has been followed. (Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 4211 §6 (in part), 1989)

10.11.030 PENALTIES.

Unless specifically set forth elsewhere in this title, the penalties for each parking violation of the provisions of this chapter and Chapter 10.04 BMC, defined as an infraction, shall be pursuant to Chapter 3.01 BMC. (Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 4730, Reaffirmed, 11/30/2000; Ord. 4677, Amended, 12/11/1999; Ord. 4542, Amended, 02/08/1996; Ord. 4425 §2, 1993; Ord. 4339 §1, 1991; Ord. 4211 §6 (part), 1989)

10.11.040 FAILURE TO APPEAR.

Any person who has been issued a notice of infraction relating to parking pursuant to BMC 10.11.020(b) and who fails to respond as provided in RCW 46.63.110, as adopted by the Model Traffic Ordinance pursuant to Chapter 10.04 BMC, shall pay an additional penalty of twenty-five dollars ($25.00), regardless of the disposition of the notice of infraction. This enhanced penalty shall be in addition to a misdemeanor citation which may be issued for failure to respond to notice of infraction. (Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 4271 §1, 1990; Ord. 4211 §6 (in part), 1989)

10.11.050 NUISANCE DECLARED - APPEAL - ENFORCEMENT.

(a)    In addition to the enforcement provisions of BMC 10.11.040, if any person fails to respond to three (3) or more outstanding infractions for parking a vehicle in violation of this title, the City Attorney may mail a declaration of vehicle nuisance to the registered and legal owners of said vehicle as shown by the records of the Washington State Department of Licensing informing them that the cited vehicle shall be declared a nuisance and subject to immediate impound or immobilization unless, within ten (10) days, either the owner (1) pays the underlying infractions or (2) appeals the declaration of vehicle nuisance.

(b)    Appeal of the declaration of nuisance vehicle will be heard by the Hearing Examiner pursuant to Chapter 2.62 BMC. Failure to appear at the scheduled hearing will be deemed a waiver of any rights to contest the declaration.

At the hearing, the owner shall have the burden of showing the registered owner did not fail to respond to three (3) or more outstanding infractions for parking.

(c)    If the registered or legal owner fails to respond under this section to a declaration of vehicle nuisance, the City Police Department or its designee may impound or immobilize said vehicle. If impounded or immobilized, the vehicle shall not be released until (1) the Police Department, or its designee, or towing company receives a receipt or other notice from the court showing that all infractions and crimes relating to standing, stopping or parking the vehicle have been paid or otherwise resolved, or (2) the owner posts bail with the department in an amount set by the Municipal Court. (Ord. 5174 §3, 2011: Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 4547, Amended, 03/28/1996; Ord. 4326 §1, 1991; Ord. 4297 §5, 1990; Ord. 4271 §2, 1990; Ord. 4211 §6 (in part), 1989)

10.11.060 OTHER ENFORCEMENT.

In addition to those penalties established pursuant to this title, a vehicle in violation of any of the parking regulations established herein may be impounded by a registered tow truck operator at the direction of a law enforcement officer pursuant to those requirements established in WAC 308-330-406 and other related sections of the Model Traffic Ordinance as adopted by Chapter 10.04 BMC. Such impound shall occur upon receipt of a signed authorization for the impound provided by the officer at the time and place of the impound. (Ord. 5174 §4, 2011: Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 4297 §6, 1990; Ord. 4271 §3, 1990; Ord. 4211 §6 (in part), 1989)

10.11.070 COSTS OF IMPOUND.

The registered owner shall be responsible for all towing and storage costs relating to impounds of a nuisance vehicle. If the vehicle is immobilized pursuant to this chapter, the Police Department shall affix to said vehicle a notice setting forth procedures for release and directing, that in addition to the payment of fines or posting bail, the owner shall pay an administrative immobilization fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) before the vehicle may be released. (Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 4211 §6 (in part), 1989)

10.11.080 ENFORCEMENT - EXEMPT PERIODS.

Restrictions on parking, as set forth in this chapter, shall not be effective on City holidays set forth in BMC 1.02.020 or such additional days specifically exempted by Council resolution.

Enforcement in the commercial parking zones and two (2) hour residential parking zones shall be at times posted. (Ord. 5138 §2 (part), 2011: Ord. 4426 §1, 1993; Ord. 4297 §1, 1990; Ord. 4260 §2 (in part), 1990; Ord. 3723 §2, 1982)