Fiscal Note
Fiscal note pending
Title
SUBSTITUTE: Repealing and recreating Section 8.18 and amending Section 1.08(3)(a) and 1.08(4) of the Madison General Ordinances to establish a uniform parking policy for all City parks, and to update the bond schedule and enforcement authority accordingly.
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DRAFTER’S ANALYSIS: This ordinance will create a uniform parking policy for all City parks, eliminating the different standards that currently apply to nine specified parks and parts thereof, and those parks not currently named in the ordinance. By making a consistent three-hour parking policy for each park during park open hours and making it only enforceable when posted by the Parks Division, and by also making an express prohibition on afterhours parking, the public will have a clearer understanding of what parking laws apply within the City’s parks. Additional provisions are being created to apply general parking rules to park lands, including parking regulations applicable to persons with physical disabilities.
As a result of these changes, the Parks Division itself will be better able to enforce parking regulations within the park system, enabling Park Rangers to respond to parking-related problems within the Parks more efficiently and effectively rather than rely upon parking enforcement or the police department for assistance. Moreover, the ordinance provides the Parks Division the ability to issue permits to allow persons to exceed the three-hour limitation. This will allow for activities such as special-event parking. The ordinance also allows for the possible creation and implementation of a commuter parking program in certain parks (subject to the review and approval of the Board of Parks Commissioners). Such a permit system, if created, would allow the City to generate revenue off of the existing commuter use of unregulated Parks parking lots, while preserving parks parking spaces for actual parks users. This ordinance would also allow for the formal creation of Parks Division employee parking areas, consistent with current operations, and give the Parks Superintendent the ability to make Parks parking lots available for off-street parking during declared snow emergencies. This ordinance will continue the Parking Utility’s current operation of the Blair Parking Lot within Law Park. Finally, a general exception is being created to give the Parks Superintendent the authority to grant limited exceptions to the parks parking restrictions. This will be important to provide the Parks Division continued flexibility regarding the use of parks lands and will allow existing parking arrangements associated with unique park uses (for example with the Madison Mallards and the Mad-City Ski Team) to continue.
In light of these changes, the bond schedule for violating parks related parking restrictions will be updated and made consistent with other similar offenses. A University of Wisconsin-Madison football game day enhanced penalty will also be created and apply to parks near campus. Enforcement on those days has historically been a challenge, and a Parks ticket has been cheaper than lawfully parking elsewhere. The penalty and bond schedule for violating the disabled parking restrictions are being set consistent with state statute. Finally, enforcement authority for the Blair Lot is being officially delegated to the Transportation Director to coincide with the relocation of Parking Enforcement from the Police Department to the Parking Division of the Transportation Department.
This Substitute adds clarifying language that exempts bicycles from some of these updated parking rules if the bicycle is parked in a designated bike parking area, like a bike rack. The City’s parking rules apply generally to vehicles (which include bicycles), not just motor vehicles. As a result, some of the new parking restrictions could inadvertently apply to bike parking areas created by the Parks Division within parking lots or other areas where cars normally cannot park. The updated parking restrictions would still prohibit the overnight parking of bikes in parks.
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Please see Legistar File No. 74887 Body in Attachments.