New parking rules, coming to a street near you.
More than two decades ago, the Woodburn City Council adopted a code overseeing the use of vehicles, bikes and pedestrian walkways within city limits. But in the prevailing years, the city has approved a variety of adjacent regulations, making it difficult for local authorities to enforce the rules.
That’s where a new ordinance, unanimously passed Aug. 12, comes in. The council sought to create a new parking enforcement ordinance that makes what is and isn’t allowed clearer for drivers and those who are tasked with keeping order on the roads.
Woodburn City Attorney McKenzie Granum told the council that the city hasn’t had consistent enforcement and towing procedures for some time. By summarizing and clarifying the existing code, and sprinkling in some new elements, the city hopes to make the rules around what can be parked where, and for how long, understood by both locals and the enforcement officers.
Among the changes are:
Both sworn police officers and unsworn community service officers are authorized to enforce parking regulations, including issuing citations and towing vehicles. Previously, only sworn officers were able to initiate parking enforcement.The city administrator has the power to install and maintain parking signage, “including temporary installations which are determined to be necessary for public safety.” That means that if tweaks are necessary, the administrator can make them, with the assistance of city engineers. The city council will maintain final oversight.Vehicles may not be parked on city streets without license plates or with tags that have been expired for a month or longer, and vehicles are prohibited from blocking mailboxes, driveways and bike lanes. These prohibitions would be subject to citation if not followed.For serial parking violators, the city may impound or tow vehicles with more than $250 worth of unpaid fines or five or more outstanding violations.
Rules around towing hazardous vehicles and the prohibition of parking in fire lanes and in select areas downtown during street cleaning hours remain in place and have been clarified in the newly approved code. Additionally, the new code makes clear that parking rules apply both to street parking and on city owned or managed lots.
Parking fines are changing, too
Another change included in the approved ordinance is a two-tier parking fine system. General parking violations, like double-parking by blocking in another vehicle or parking in the wrong direction on the side of the road, will incur a $50 fine.
“This is something that we get called on quite a bit, and it’s frustrating even for us when we drive around on patrol, having to try to navigate your way through a cul-de-sac, having to make a three-point turn to even navigate through there,” community service officer Nick Weathermon said during the meeting.
“And currently a community service officer doesn’t have the ability to issue a citation for this,” he added, referring to the previous rules that CSOs were unable to enforce many elements of illegal parking.
The second tier, set at $125, is for vehicles that remain in one place too long — such as long-term storage of trucks, trailers, boats or RVs on city streets — and vehicles that violate handicap parking rules.
With numerous tweaks and clarification, the work now begins to make sure motorists are aware of the rules of the road.
“Following adoption of the new ordinance, police and legal staff will be meeting to ensure enforcement personnel receive training on the ordinance changes and understand the procedural steps for issuing legally defensible parking citations and undertaking impound/towing procedures under the ordinance,” according to council documents.
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